Spiral Nine
by Crossover King 46
Summary: In a world ruled by militaristic nations with the power of giant robots known as Gears, a young man must fulfull a destiny that was placed on him thirty years ago as a result of a promise. Please remember to review!
1. Chapter 1: Romance Dawn

Spiral Nine

by Random Writer 46

Chapter 1: Romance Dawn

---

"See ya!"

The voices rang out over the field. Words of parting were exchanged, and students filed out of the school grounds. Indeed, it was Friday and that meant another two days before they had to get their asses back in class next Monday. That was plenty of time to relieve their stress and party all weekend and miraculously forget about their homework come Math class.

Uzumaki Naruto was not somebody who was too fond of the weekends, and there was a reason for that. Many of his classmates knew him as the class prankster, somebody who was always grinning like an idiot no matter what kind of trouble he landed himself into. Maybe that was true.

"Naruto-kun!" cried a feminine voice as he exited the school gate and turned onto the sidewalk.

The blonde boy with the orange jacket turned around and faced the girl in front of him. She was one of his few friends at school, the reason that he enjoyed the place of education a bit more than the orphanage. They had most classes together, and he could always count on her to make him wake up when the teacher got suspicious at his napping. It seemed like her father also owned a kung-fu dojo, but that was just a rumour he heard around the block and not something that she had told him herself.

She had dark, brown hair tied up in two buns, and her eyes were brown as well. She carried in her left arm a handful of books, while in her right she held up an orange backpack. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized where it had come from. Tenten's knowing smile told all.

"My bag!"

"That's right," smiled the oriental girl. "You should take more notice in your surroundings, Naruto-kun. If I didn't pick this up for you who knows where it would've ended up."

Tenten held the bag out, and Naruto took it out of her hands. After looking inside to make sure that nothing's been stolen, Naruto grinned appreciatively at the girl. They talked for a few seconds before they split up at the intersection. Naruto continued walking towards the orphanage, realizing that nothing could save him from the cold, unfeeling place now.

Walking up to the front of the orphanage, he couldn't help but feel dejected as he entered through the doorway.

---

"Naruto-nichan!"

Voices rang through the orphanage as three little blurs ran down the corridors, attaching themselves to Naruto's leg. Naruto smiled as he ruffled their hair. These three were the ones closest to him in this dreary place. They arrived three years ago when their parents were found in a car accident and none of their relatives were willing to take them in. Naruto had felt instant sympathy for them the day they arrived with their bags looking so lost and confused.

They had practically adopted him as their older brother, and spent practically every waking moment with him when they were out of school. He didn't mind their attention, as it was a pretty good feeling to know that there were little kids that looked up to you.

"Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon," he nodded at each one of them in turn. "How come you're not doing your homework like your teacher asked you to? Don't you have a test Monday?"

Konohamaru gulped.

"Ehehe... How do you know about that?"

Naruto grinned like a fox, "Your teacher comes to me every time you guys do something. I know all about last week's 'flaming poo' accident and the love letters. Now, are you going to be studying your Japanese or am I gonna hafta get the waterballoons?"

All three of them visibly stiffened. They hadn't forgotten about Naruto's skill with waterballoons. He always seemed to get their most vulnerable, most irritating, and most don't-want-to-be-wet parts. They didn't know how he did it, and to be truthful, he himself didn't know. He just had a talent for that kind of thing.

He quickly shooed the three kids to their rooms on the second floor, and looked around. There really wasn't much to do, as most of the children in the orphanage were outside playing. He himself was one of the oldest in the dreary place, though his fifteenth birthday was coming up. The laws of Konoha stated that at fifteen years of age any minor without true legal guardians was allowed to live on his own with a grant from the government.

Orphans were becoming quite common as of late, Naruto realized as he stared at the courtyard. Several children were playing with each other, and a boy who had just come in recently was being consoled by several same-aged children. It seemed like orphanages elsewhere were starting to fill up as a result of terrorist attacks since two years ago, and the fifteen-year-old law was passed to free up more space in the orphanages.

The thought saddened Naruto. Everyday there were new orphans made. He himself had never met his parents before, as the matron in the orphanage had always told him that she had found him on the steps to the building one day and there was a little note tucked into his blanket that contained his name. Nothing else had been given, so therefore he became a ward.

The matron herself was a nice old lady, though a little distant. It was understandable however, given that she had no time to make herself familiar to all fourty-three children in the orphanage and had a hard enough time just keeping up with them. Naruto himself always volunteered to help in the kitchen or whatever whenever the opportunity rose, as it always lightened her load a little bit.

Oh well, there was nothing that he had to do around here anyway. He dropped off his bag and books in his room, and walked down the stairs and out of the door. Homework could wait, and it was a nice day outside.

---

The back forest was what the kids affectionately called the large patch of woodland that spread out across the back of the orphanage. It was indeed a very large place, and many kinds of woodland creatures lived within. Little kids weren't allowed without proper supervision, but Naruto was no little kid. He had traversed this area of the country ever since he had been admitted into the orphanage, and it was like a second home to him.

Climbing up over a root, he turned deeper into the woods. There really was a lot to think about now for him. For one, his birthday was only three days away, which meant three days until he could apply to live alone. He wasn't sure he wanted to, for one, but then again it would free up space for kids who really needed it. There were some open houses around here, so maybe he should start looking around.

Lost in his thought, he didn't realize he had arrived at his destination until he almost tripped over a bush. He looked around, this was definitely the place.

Climbing up the tree carefully, grabbing every branch that he could, he carefully aligned himself. There, in the center of two trees stood that hammock he had put up four years ago. It was a rather large hammock as he had anticipated that he might grow and wanted to make sure that he didn't have to go through all the trouble of stringing up another one.

Carefully he neared it and spun it around, getting rid of much of the fallen leaves and water. It was about a story and a half high, since as a kid he had been quite fearless. Climbing into it, he relaxed and stared upwards at the sky. The white clouds contrasted with the light blue sky, and the fine breeze and good weather made sure that he would be comfortable.

He didn't know how long he rested there, staring at the sky. Time seemed to pass by quickly at points, but slowly at others. His mind was in turmoil.

The orphanage was a nice place, that was true. Maybe it was strange for him to feel so dejected whenever he stood in front of it, but there was a reason for that. The orphanage was bad for many of the other children as well, but their reasons were different from his. Similar in many aspects, but overall different in the most important part. Something that none of them could understand.

He had no parents.

No memories, no nothing. No names.

They didn't exist, and that was what hurt the most. He couldn't help, every time he looked at the orphanage, to feel dejected, as though he wasn't good enough. Thousands of questions filled his head whenever he thought about it... some of which his mind had tried unpleasantly to reason out. Why was he left at the steps of the orphanage? Why had he been left behind? Why didn't his parents leave anything of themselves to at least give him something to remind himself of them?

Maybe he really wasn't good enough.

---

"Umm... hello?"

Naruto opened his eyes, and sat up groggily. The soft swinging of the hammock reminded him where he was, and he looked around cautiously. Falling asleep while thinking seemed to be a talent of his along with the waterballoon thing.

There was nobody around him... Maybe it was just a figment of his imagination?

"Down here!"

Naruto looked over the edge of the hammock. There, on ground floor, stood a girl with waist-length navy blue hair and a pair of the most peculiar eyes he had ever seen. They were white, but the way that she looked at him suggested that there was nothing wrong with them whatsoever.

Naruto quickly flipped sideways out of the hammock and flung himself towards the ground. Midway he heard the audible gasp of his lone observer, and grinned as he hit the ground with a hard thud. Most people he knew were pretty impressed with his ability to take damage, therefore another talent. He straightened up and brushed the dust off himself.

"Heya," grinned Naruto. "What's up?"

She eep'ed in surprise.

"A-ano, I'm sorry. I just saw you and... Ah, my name is Hyuuga Hinata. I'm sorry to have disturbed your rest."

Naruto shrugged and scratched his head.

"Don't worry too much about it. I wasn't planning on sleeping anyway, it just came to me." grinned Naruto. "What're you doing in this part anyway? Not a lot of people ever come here for anything, and the few who do never really get this far. They usually get tired and leave right away."

"Ah, well, I'm here for b-business."

"Business...? What kind of business would want you to come to a place like this?" asked Naruto quizically. He took in the sight of the girl. She was wearing a gray sweater along with a pair of long pants, and it struck Naruto that she was rather cute. "Oh yeah, sorry for being rude. The name's Uzumaki Naruto."

"N-Nice to meet you, Naruto-kun," blushed Hinata. "A-Ano, I can't really talk about my purpose in coming here. But I seem to have lost myself in these woods. I'm not sure exactly how to get out..."

"Oh yeah, that's something that happens around here. If you're not used to the back forest you usually shouldn't even bother coming here. 'Cause this place is huge, and if you don't have a guide you get lost really easily," Naruto said, nodding thoughtfully. "Which way are you going?"

Hinata took a piece of paper out of her pocket, and looked at it closely. Naruto was now sure that there was nothing wrong with her eyes whatsoever, however it didn't change the fact that they were a bit weird. But they made her unique in a good way. A cute good way.

What? He was an almost fifteen-year old teen. One of the things that came with being one was raging hormones, at least that's what the guys in school said. He had doubted them until his counsellor intruded on one of his Art classes to bring a certain presentation that changed his perspective of the world forever. It was something that all high-school kids went through.

"A-ano, it says here that there should be a tree marked with a big 'X'?"

"Oh yeah, that one. See, if you keep walking in that direction for a bit, you'll come across it. It's actually just a trunk, since the top part was cut down a long time ago," said the blonde teenager, pointing towards a break in the trees. Hinata's eyes followed his finger, and nodded thankfully when the boy had finished talking.

"T-thank you very much!"

Naruto waved it off as he watched the girl bow and take off in the direction that he had specified. Pretty soon the sound of her footsteps became dimmer and dimmer, and faded completely, leaving Naruto wondering what she was in such a hurry for.

Oh well. There was nothing for it. Looking up at the sky, Naruto judged by the position of the sun that it was at least after dinner-time. Knowing that the matron would be kind enough to leave him some grub, he turned towards the direction of the orphanage and started sprinting.

---

"So you're finally here."

Hinata slowed down from her brisk run at the sight of the man in front of her. He was wearing a military uniform, and the headband that he pulled over his left eye and the mask that obscured his lower face served to give him an aura of mystery. His eye travelled over the pages of a small orange book that he held in his left hand.

"I'm sorry sir, but I couldn't find my way. I only managed to get here due to directions from a local."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," admitted Kakashi. "When Shikamaru-kun told me about this place I didn't quite expect it to be so large. I myself also had to ask for the help of a local, more specifically the matron of this orphanage nearby. It seems like quite a few of her kids have a tendency to get lost in the forest themselves."

"Still, all things considered, sir. It's simply unacceptable..."

"I already said don't worry about it. Look at me, I'm late to things all the time."

Hinata didn't say anything. Hatake Kakashi was not the paragon of responsibility.

"Wait there for a bit," said the gray-haired man as he closely inspected the tree trunk marked with an 'x'. He had previously been leaning on one of the other trees in the clearing. "So, who gave you the directions? The matron herself had to write me a detailed map."

"I encountered him a little while ago," said Hinata. She wasn't nearly as nervous when she was dealing with people whom she was familiar with. "His name was Uzumaki Naruto, and he seemed rather familiar with these woods. He was sleeping in a hammock when I came upon him, and I woke him up when I was asking for directions."

Kakashi had paused at the mention of the name.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you say?"

"Yes, sir," said Hinata, curiously. "Do you know him?"

"I can safely say that I know _of _him. But that's neither here nor there..." said Kakashi. "Ah, there we go."

A little switch had been hidden at the base of the trunk, and the gray-haired man tapped it two times in quick succession and a third time slowly. Suddenly, a rumbling seemed to fill the clearing and the sound of Hinata gasping was quite audible.

"Yes, it is rather amazing, isn't it?" mused Kakashi. "I was surprised the first time I saw it too."

---

Naruto woke up, feeling the fabric of his mattress rub against his pajamas. Sitting up groggily, he wiped his eyes. He didn't really want to wake just yet, but the light that the blinds didn't manage to filter hadn't really given him a choice.

Jumping out of bed, he quikly changed himself. The orange jacket that he wore every single day and a black T-shirt underneath. Next came the washed out jeans, not that they had been washed out originally. When you lived in an orphanage with no money whatsoever you had to make do with what you managed to find.

Going downstairs, he joined the line of other kids waiting to use the washroom. After telling off a girl for trying to budge in front of another girl, he quickly entered and brushed his teeth with the toothbrush and cup that had been assigned to him. After breaking up another fight between two boys trying to get to the toothpaste, he made his way out of the room.

There was one last thing that he had to do.

He entered the kitchen, and was met with the matron's smiling face.

"Good morning, Naruto-chan."

Naruto smiled and bid the motherly old woman a similar greeting, and started helping with the cooking. Even though the matron was rather distant at times, she had been the one to raise him after all and had dedicated as much time as possible to giving each and every single child her attention. It wasn't her fault that there were fourty-something children in the orphanage and that she was only human after all.

She was the closest thing to a parent that he had.

That was why he cared so much, and was willing to work whatever task she set out for him.

"Don't worry about it, matron-san," said Naruto.

They worked diligently, and were soon joined by several of the other older orphans. None of them spoke, as they were all used to helping out, being some of the more responsible in the orphanage. Today's breakfast was simply congee with some Iwa donuts, something that most of the orphans loved.

---

"Konohamaru, don't run around so much after you just finished eating!" yelled Naruto.

Like most of the orphanage children, the Konohamaru Corps were fond of the back forest. It was actually a Saturday ritual for the children to play in the back forest after they finished eating, and today was no exception. The younger children were usually assigned an older supervisor, and today Naruto had gladly picked the KC for his charges. He knew them better than most of the orphanage after all and the others couldn't handle their energy.

The kids were playing tag, or more specifically something that seemed like a cross between tag and hide-and-go-seek. Whenever the person who was 'it' caught somebody, they had to close their eyes and count to ten. After they finished that they had to go and find the others and catch them when they had found them. Rinse and repeat.

He sat down, tired of standing, and laid back. He wasn't quite prepared for what he was going to see when he turned his eyes to the sky. After a few seconds of stunned shock, he quickly sprang back up from his position.

"Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon!" yelled Naruto. "Come with me, quick!"

The three children stopped what they were doing and looked at each other curiously. However, the tone of urgency in Naruto's voice convinced them to drop their game and follow their leader. Naruto began running towards the deep end of the woods, and knew that all the other supervisors as well as the people in the city should also be scrambling for shelter.

As if on cue, the alarms in the city began blaring. The Konohamaru Corps looked frightened by this point, but Naruto quickly reassured them with a glance. It was imperative that they made it deeper into the woods where it would be harder for thirty-feet tall giant robots to follow them.

The large black shape in the sky moving quickly towards the city had tipped him off. After all, it wasn't often that you saw a Messiah-class battleship near a city that had no importance whatsoever for any military uses. They also had no notice whatsoever that it was going to come. There was only one reason for it to be here, and it wasn't for fun and games.

The terrorists had arrived.

---

Yamamoto Ichiro was not a happy man. Being the head of police in a city carried with it a responsibility for the well-being of those who lived in said city, and for once Ichiro could do nothing to stop whatever it was that threatened them.

From the battleship three Trigger Mark IIs had been deployed. They were black in colour, something that had probably been customized as a standard Trigger Mark 2 was usually black. Each of them held a particle rifle in each hand and a beam sword, and after the three Gears hit the ground with a thud they had quickly set about securing the city.

He had already called for the deployment of the defense systems within the city, but two simple tanks weren't going to be stopping these mechanical monstrosities. Truly the swiss army knife of Gears, as though the Trigger Mark II had simple armour even the strongest cannon of his tanks would barely scratch its paint. Only a Gear could fight a Gear... it was something they had been taught in the military.

Yamamoto cursed. That meant the only thing he would've been able to do was to wait it out until the military arrived. However, that was no longer the case. The terrorrists had a jammer of some sort, and all communications were severed. They were alone now.

They were conquered.

He cursed. The only way out now was to hope for a miracle.

---

Naruto lead the kids deeper into the woods, and soon they came upon the area where the hammock lay. The blonde-haired teen looked around, this should definitely be far enough for now. There would be no reason for terrorists to come this far and there would be no guarantee they would make it even if they did.

They sat there for a while, not talking much. Konohamaru looked oddly nervous, given that he was usually the most reckless and courageous of his Corps. Moegi was fidgetting, and looked to Naruto every now and then as if she was going to ask something, but stopped every time. Udon however didn't seem at all unnerved, and was just looking around the place as though he was bored.

Naruto himself tried to calm down. The sight of that black ship had infused him with a feeling that he had never felt before, a mixture of fear, anticipation, excitement, and dread. It was eerily familiar, but for all he knew he had never felt it before in his life. Instinctively he had known that it was a bad thing, and he was sure even if he hadn't seen that television documentary on Gear warfare a few days ago it still would've sent him running.

"Where am I?"

Naruto looked up, where had that voice come from?

There was nobody around, and the voice hadn't sounded like Konohamaru's, Moegi's, or Udon's. It was of an older man, and for some reason it inspired a sense of familiarity within him.

"What's going on in here...? Who are you?"

The voice was of an older man, at least twenty years of age. It was rough and carried with it a trace of an accent that Naruto couldn't place. He looked around again, there was nobody in the clearing except for him and the KC, and he knew that the kids weren't very good at changing their voices at all.

Maybe the terrorists had sent troops searching through the woods for them? There was no telling what their goals were after all, but there had been reports on the television that they had done it before. Naruto didn't watch much television usually but he was glad that he had watched several news reports about the terrorist attacks._"Hey, answer me!"_

_'But I can't answer you if I don't know where you are!'_ thought Naruto frantically. The lives of three children were in his hands, and he'd be dead before he let them come to any harm. He looked about the clearing, at any hiding places.

_"You just did!"_

Naruto stopped.

He had answered the voice? How?

Then he realized. The voice wasn't coming from around him, it was coming from within his mind. At this revelation he practically panicked. When had he developed multiple-personality disorder? If anybody found out would they lock him up?_"Whoa, whoa! Calm down bastard, you're messing this place up!"_

_'What are you talking about!'_

_"Stop panicking! I'm in your mind or something, and the entire place is tilting and shaking and shit. Calm down!"_ commanded the voice that came within his mind, and Naruto knew that screwing himself up right now might not be the best idea he ever had.

Naruto took a few deep breaths, and the Konohamaru Corps looked up at him strangely. When he had sufficiently calmed himself down, he took to conversing with the strange entity that had taken up residence within his head._'What are you doing in my head?'_

_"Damned if I know,"_ the voice replied disdainfully. _"I don't really remember what happened... I think I was talking to somebody and then I walked through a portal. Something happened after that and I... UGH!"_

Suddenly, Naruto fell to the ground clutching his head in pain. He bit his lip to keep from screaming, and almost drew blood. The entity in his mind however didn't have the luxury and Naruto could hear his tortured cries over the pain that flooded his head. Each cry of his reacted with the pain in his head increasing and decreasing, effectively spiking.

Konohamaru ran to his leader in alarm, as both Moegi and Udon watched in shock.

_"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"_ cried the voice. _"Abort, abort!"_

The pain in his head subsided, and his breathing returned to normal. Naruto looked up and gave Konohamaru a reassuring look and they relaxed, though each of them still looked at their leader suspiciously, concerned for his health. Naruto turned towards the inside of his head again.

_What was that!'_

_"I dunno!"_ groaned the voice. _"It's like there's a block in my memories or something! Dammit, that smarts." _

_'Well, whatever it is, stop doing it,' _replied Naruto forcefully, or at least he tried to. It was hard to be forceful with a voice in your head._ 'I'm in a dangerous situation here and I don't need anymore distractions!" _

_"Alright, alright... Na... Naruto, right?"_ said the voice. The blonde-haired teengaer suddenly realized that he hadn't told the voice his name yet, though if he existed in his head it should be pretty obvious that he was able to read his memories. _"We'll talk about this later when you've calmed down. Just warning you though, you might want to pay some more attention. I can hear footsteps, and they're not from your kiddies."_

Naruto turned sharply towards the source of the sound. From what he could hear they were made by boots, something that he knew nobody in the orphanage wore. As the footsteps came closer and closer, he could also hear what sounded like the voices of three men.

Naruto made a silencing gesture towards the Konohamaru Corps, and motioned for them to follow. Hopping over a root, he made his way deeper into the forest. Unknowingly however, he was following the exact directions that he had given that white-eyed girl he had met yesterday.

---

"This isn't good," Kakashi noted absent-mindedly as he stared at the terrorist Gears high up.

Hinata nodded. They were standing on ground level looking at the destruction that the Gears had already caused. People ran past them in panic as they tried to get to a safer place. Though the white-eyed girl was calm to the world, inside there was a storm brewing within her. Puzzled by her superior's unchalance, she wondered why they were here doing nothing as the black Gears made a mess of the city.

"Sir, why..."

"There's nothing we can do," said the gray-hared man as he casually observed the dark Gears. They were awkwardly piloted... very amateur. Their reaction times were slow, and Kakashi knew that none of them had been properly trained in using a Gear. Even so however, the city couldn't put up a proper defence without Gears of their own. This was a situation where the weapons and defences mattered instead of the pilot.

"I don't understand, sir."

"Elementary, my dear Hinata," said Kakashi slowly. "We don't have any weapons to fight back with. I've already contacted Yggdrasil, which means they'll be here in under an hour. There's nothing we have to worry about, since the alarm system in this city is exceptional. I estimate that there will be no casualties."

"What do you mean?" asked Hinata once again. "We do have a weapon, we inspected it yesterday. Even though it is a little out-dated with your skill you can..."

"There's a problem with that," smiled Kakashi, amused as he read his little orange book. "It's waiting for a very specific pilot. Said pilot is neither of us, and I expect that he will not show up in this battle as he's sleeping right now."

Curiousity gripped Hinata once more.

"Who is it, sir?"

Kakashi did that strange thing where you could tell he was smiling even though that mask of his. Closing the little orange book with a snap, he put it into his pocket.

"You've already met him, even though he doesn't know it."

He turned towards the outer edge of the town, and started walking. Hinata kept staring at her superior until he faded out of sight, and turned to look upwards at the black Gears that terrorized the town. After a few seconds of confused thoughts, she turned as well and ran to catch up to Kakashi.

---

Naruto and company quickly lost their pursuers as they entered deeper into the forest. They were familiar with this forest, and the guys that had been chasing them weren't. Naruto knew without a doubt that unless they had a guide of some sort, it'd take a while for them to find them. The blonde-haired teenager stopped as they hit another clearing, one that Naruto instantly recognized.

It was the trunk with the small 'x'. The one that he had directed that cute girl (Hinata, was it?) to. This was a good place to stop, as it was in the deepest part of the forest and incredibly hard to find by chance. He himself had been directed to it by an older orphan a long time ago. Said orphan was now living somewhere in the city by himself as the government had requested.

Sitting down on top of the log, he let the kids beside him rest while he took a few deep breaths. They were obviously tired, as they weren't really used to all the running and sneaking. He himself wasn't either, but since he was older he had to act like a leader.

"Whew... Let's stop here for a bit," grinned Naruto. "We're probably not going to be moving for a while. Calm down and take a break."

The Konohamaru Corps agreed, and each one of them slumped down.

"Naruto-nichan!" asked Konohamaru. "What's happening? Why are we running?"

Naruto didn't know quite how to answer the question without causing them to panic.

_"Just tell them the truth. They're mature enough to handle it."_

_'Ah, you're back,'_ said Naruto as he took note of the entity in his head._ 'What do you know about them anyway?' _

_"Well, while you were running away from your pursuers, I scanned your mind a little. Looks like I can look through your memories. Kind of weird but it makes sense since I'm living in your head and all. Oh, and for your information I'm not a split personality, at least I don't think so. That oughta reassure you a bit."_

_'So, I should be reassured by the fact that instead of having split personalities, I've got somebody else in my head instead?'_

_"Whatever makes you happy. What're you waiting for anyway? The kids are waiting."_

Naruto looked at the three kids in front of him. They looked back expectantly.

"Alright, you know what Gears are, right?"

"I know, I know!" cried Moegi. "They're giant robots!"

"Good enough," said Naruto. "The city's being attacked by a bunch of bad Gears. Everybody's taking shelter, so my responsibility as your supervisor is to take you to somewhere safe."

"Then are we safe now?" asked Udon.

"Well, as close to it as we could be, yeah."

The conversation died off as the kids rediscovered their fatigue and Naruto rested against the stump.

"You know, there's something about this place that's familiar."

'Didn't you say that you couldn't recall anything?'

"I know, I know! I tried accessing my memory a bit when you were running, but it was always like there was something blocking it. Don't look so shocked! Whenever I felt even a little bit of pain I stopped immediately!"

That pacified Naruto, who had been getting a mental barrage of insults line up. He couldn't believe that this guy in his head had been irresponsible enough to risk sabotaging their escape.

_'That doesn't excuse...!'_

_"Look, I'm sorry alright! I figured it wouldn't hurt and it didn't!"_ cried the voice in his head. _"Looks like whatever happens whenever I try to get to my memories affects me first before you. From what I could tell I can't actually try to recall anything, but if something just comes up then there's no problem." _

_'Wow, I'm ectastic.'_

_"Really? That's great!"_

Naruto wondered to himself why a man who sounded ten years older than himself could be so dense. However, he ddin't have time to worry about that. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps and branches breaking could be heard in the distance again, and Naruto realized with alarm that they were the same footsteps as the ones he had heard before.

_"What the hell! Your memories said that only the guys at your orphanage knew how to get here!"_

_'I thought that too, but it looks like we're wrong,'_ noted Naruto morbidly. The Konohamaru Corps had gotten up, uncertain of how to proceed and looking at Naruto expectantly. _'Dammit, I can't go any further into the forest. I don't the paths very well and we could all get lost.' _

_"Shit... Wait!"_

_'What?"_

_"There's a way out of here, I just remembered!"_ said the voice, happily. _"Quick, look at the bottom of the stump!"_

Naruto did so, brushing away the grass and dead leaves. Actually, it seemed like somebody had done this exact same thing recently, as the plants seemed to have been bothered. He quickly found a little button, and was amazed that he hadn't seen this before.

_"Not the time, buddy! Umm... here, you're going to have to hit that thing quickly two times and then slowly one last time!"_ said the voice confidently, and Naruto did so. The voice had no reason to lead him wrong and he hadn't done so, so far.

Suddenly, there was a slight rumbling. It was the exact same thing that had happened yesterday, Naruto realized, and watched as the stump, and the patch of earth that had been under it, rose. What popped out of the ground was an elevator.

All four of them watched in awe, before Naruto came to his senses. He quickly ushered the children into the large cylindral construction, and moved inside himself. There were a series of buttons on the wall, and the voice instructed him on the ones to press. It seemed like a password of some sort.

Soon, the elevator was sinking back into the ground, and when the men came into the clearing all they could see was the stump and nothing else. It was as if nothing had been disturbed whatsoever.

---

"Where... are we now, Naruto-nichan?" asked Konohamaru nervously.

After a short ride, they had hit the bottom. Naruto waited, unnerved, as the elevator door started to open. They had arrived at a long corridor of some sort, very white-looking and high tech. Without a word they got out of the elevator.

When all of them were out, the elevator closed its door once again. Naruto could hear the faint hum as it went back to wherever it had come from. Silently, he motioned to the kids. There was a door on the other side of the hallway, and that was the only place they could go for now.

However, as soon as they hit the midpoint between the elevator door and the one in front of them, red light flooded the room. The Konohamaru Corps recoiled in surprise and terror, but Naruto stood his ground. The voice would probably tell him about it if it was dangerous.

_"Uh, sorry, man,"_ speak of the devil. _"I don't got a clue 'bout what's going on here now. The only thing I remembered was how to get in here. You're on your own now."_

Naruto cursed as the red light washed over them and a computerized voice beeped out a message.

"Objects identified... Three unknowns. One subject PMB-009. Sufficient clearance. Have a nice day."

The Konohamaru Corps looked at each other and then at Naruto. The blonde-haired teenager himself looked confused. There was no way that the computer could've identified any of them... From the way that the kids looked, they had never been here before, and there was no way he could forget a place like this if he had known about it.

_"Well, who cares about that? C'mon, go further! I wanna see what's it like inside!"_

_'You've made yourself comfortable, haven't you?'_ asked Naruto with a growl in his mind-voice.

_"Don't you like mysteries, man?"_ said the voice, a bit giddy. _"I love this kind of stuff! There's no telling what's in the next room. Maybe a demon chained to an earthly grave which'll try to tempt you into releasing it, maybe a load of treasure! You'll never know if you don't check it out!"_

_'Fine, fine,'_ said Naruto, mentally. _'It's not like we can go back anyway.'_

---

"Holy crap," muttered the blonde teenager.

They had arrived at a... hangar. That was the only way to describe it.

It was consisted of two floors, one being ground floor and one made of catwalks. They had arrived on the second floor. The hangar itself was rather large, maybe the size of a very big gym. There were computer terminals on the ground floor, though none of it seemed to be connected. The room had lit up the moment they entered, which meant that there still was electricity flowing within its walls.

In the center of the room, cables connected to it, was a Gear.

It was old, evidenced by the dust that covered it. Most of its colour was faded, but it was easy to tell that most of it had been a vibrant orange along with a bit of white lining here and there. On its faceplate were six raised stripes, three on each cheek. A catwalk lead right into a chest cavity, where Naruto could see the cockpit.

"Wow... I didn't know there was something like this back here," said Konohamaru in awe. His cohorts agreed with his sentiments, and they each stared and followed as Naruto carefully navigated the catwalk.

Naruto looked about the place. There really wasn't much here except the Gear...

_"Yo, Naruto."_

_'Yeah?'_

_"Forget what I said about mysteries. I've got a bad feeling about this place,"_ the voice was strangely grim. _"I dunno, there's something... not right." _

_'What do you mean?'_

_"It's like I've been here before, alright? But something's changed... for the worse. You've got to get in that robot as soon as possible, and bring the kids with you too. Something bad's gonna happen, and I'm actually not kidding this time."_

Naruto decided to follow his advice. He believed in feelings, and if it was bad enough for the voice to go from happy-go-lucky to grim in a split second, then he really didn't want to be caught up in it.

"C'mon, guys," said the blonde-haired teen to his charges. "Let's get in the Gear."

"Why?" asked Udon. "We don't even know if its safe or not."

Naruto wracked his brain trying to come up with an excuse.

"Well, let's just say I have a bad feeling about this place."

The KC looked at each other and shrugged. They had a habit of doing whatever their leader said, even though it sometimes got them into trouble. This time would be no exception. Moving quickly, they walked around the catwalks and approached the Gear.

Suddenly, just as they approached the faded orange Gear, the entire room started shaking. Naruto quickly pulled Udon to the side just as a piece of debris fell from the ceiling and struck the place where he had been standing with considerable force. It seemed like the voice's hunch had proved right after all.

"Shit, I knew it! Run to the 'bot quick, you'll be safe there!"

'What'll we do once we get there! It's not like we can just get out when this place collapses!'

"We'll worry about that once you get your and your little friends' asses in there!"

"C'mon, let's get in the Gear quick!" yelled Naruto.

They were almost there now. The debris was now falling freely, though luckily most of it didn't land on the catwalk. Naruto quickly jumped past a small hole in the path and the Konohamaru Corps followed closely behind. They turned the last corner sharply, and were just about to enter the cockpit of the Gear when a large piece of the ceiling fell through and struck the catwalk in front of them, disconnecting it from the rest of the way and making it hit the ground with a thud.

Naruto looked around, clenching his teeth. There was no way that the kids could make that jump, and there was no way he was going to leave them behind while he went on alone... If there was only some kind of way out...

Suddenly, he got an idea.

"Alright, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon. You three stay here for a bit and look out for falling stuff," ordered Naruto. "I'm gonna go ahead and get in the Gear. When I find out how to control it I'll move forwards and let you guys in, is that clear?"

The kids nodded, and Naruto smiled. Taking a few steps backwards, he made a running leap that allowed him to sail across the open hole. Landing at the edge of the chest cavity of the Gear, he quickly made his way inside.

The cockpit was rather small, but enough to fit four people, even if it would be a bit of a squeeze. On all sides were deactivated monitors that he was sure were used for monitoring the status of the Gear as well as probably letting him see. Settling himself into the driver's seat, he looked at the controls.

For a moment he despaired. There were no controls whatsoever. How was he supposed to move this thing? Was it unfinished, or something like that? Dammit, if he didn't find a way to get the kids into the Gear then they'd die... How was he going to explain that to the matron!

"Calm down! I know how to use this thing!"

Naruto did as the voice told.

"Alright, feel to the right of your chair. There should be a button to light this thing up."

After fumbling a bit, Naruto managed to find the switch. Flipping it, he was pleasantly surprised as the Gear started humming. The monitors that had stood to the sides of the seat started booting up, and a 3D display lit up in front of him. It arranged itself into a keyboard like function, and Naruto realized that what he was seeing in front of him were the controls.

The main monitor turned on.

BOOTING UP

Scanning...

Scanning...

Scanning...

A red light once again filled the cockpit, but this time Naruto knew what it was about.

Subject identified:

PMB-009

Status: Healthy

T-Connection: Green

Activate GEAR?

Y/N

Naruto hit the Y letter with his finger without a second thought. The Gear came to life, and Naruto could feel it shifting underneath him. The cables at its side fell off, and its empty eyes lit up with a light green glow. Now, for the next step, actually piloting the thing.

There were no instructions whatsoever, so Naruto had to make do. The keyboard control in front of him didn't seem to have any places for actions, so he looked around. Finding two slots that seemed to be made for his hands, he inserted them. Two clamps slid down out of the ceiling and attached themselves to his hands, making sure that they didn't slip, and two footgrips appeared out of the floor. Naruto put his the soles of his shoes on them and as soon as he had done that another two clamps popped out of the sides and connected themselves to his legs.

Whatever it was, it had to be used for piloting, right?

Moving his fingers a little, he was surprised to feel the Gear's hand move as well. Suddenly the idea all came together in Naruto's head, and he moved forwards, letting the entrance to the cockpit near his charges. The Konohamaru Corps got the idea and jumped into the entrance.

"Alright, you guys," Naruto said over the humming of the machinery. "Get over here so I can close the hatch."

They did as they were told and tried to make themselves comfortable in the small place. It was obvious that it was made for only one person, but it did hold enough space for four people. Granted, a few of the displays were blocked from Naruto's view but most of them he didn't understand anyway.

The blonde teenager closed the hatch, and turned back to the entity in his mind.

_'What do I do from here?'_

_"Crouch the 'bot,"_ answered the voice. _"It'll activate a launch pad on the floor that'll open up the ceiling for you to boost through. This place used to be military laboratory for the development of Gears, so there was place made for the deployment of Gears as well. You can use that." _

_'Right. After we're done here though, you're gonna have to try to expain to me how you know so much about all of this,'_ noted Naruto. _'And you're going to have to give me a name too. It's hard enough talking to you without having something to call you.'_

_"Worry about that after we're in home stretch! GET READY TO LAUNCH!"_

Naruto had done exactly what the voice had told him. Within seconds the ceiling had opened up, and a vertical tunnel-like structure that lead to the surface could be seen. Suddenly, he felt heat around his feet, even though he knew there was nothing there. Was the Gear connected to him by the nerves as well?

Soon the heat became hot... too intense. He knew the time was now. Springing his legs up, he felt the Gear lurch as it entered air. The boost had been immense, and he saw the tunnel pass by on the monitor as though he was moving in a really, really fast car.

Sunlight suddenly burst in from the monitors, momentarily blinding him. Just then he realized he had hit the surface, and he smiled as he felt the dirt underneath him through the Gear. The Konohamaru Corps looked equally relieved as they grinned at each other.

Suddenly, a beam of green energy shot past his face. Naruto panicked, and lost his footing as the orange Gear he was riding toppled and landed on its rump. The cockpit shook and Moegi suffered a small bruise, but otherwise everything was alright. Naruto turned the Gear's head towards the direction of the shot, and saw a black Gear around the same height holding a smoking rifle.

"Shit."

"Amen."

---

Kakashi looked towards the forest. The orange Gear that had popped out of the ground didn't surprise him, but its timing did. He hadn't quite expected the boy to have found it so fast, but it seemed like fate worked in mysterious ways.

"Sir, isn't that the..."

"Yes," verified the gray-haired man. "It seems like he's waken up now. Both the pilot and the Gear. I don't think we'll have anything to worry about at this point. Even before the Yggdrasil arrives he'll probably have taken care of all of them."

Hinata looked at her superior with curious eyes, before turning back towards the battle. The movements of the orange Gear were sluggish, as though the pilot wasn't used to the controls.

"But, sir! The movements of that Gear are those of an amateur! Surely, even a strong Gear with an average pilot can't take on four or five fully-outfitted Trigger Mark IIs, and you're expecting an outdated Gear with a new pilot to win against these kind of odds!"

"No need to worry about that," said Kakashi, smiling.

Hinata's eyes pressed the issue, however.

"Well, let's just say that if the pilot is anything like his father, then he'd be a pretty fast learner."

---

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!'

"Classy."

'If you don't anything to say that could keep us from becoming scrap then don't say anything! It's taking up all of my powers of concentration just to make sure we don't get shot into a million freaking pieces here!"

Indeed, the shots of the enemy mech were starting to become more and more accurate as Naruto's Gear tumbled and ran around the place. The shots themselves were starting to cause damage, though to the forest instead of its supposed target.

The Konohamaru Corps were on the verge of panic, and Naruto knew that nothing he could say right now would calm them down. None of them were used to fights, and although normally Naruto would throw himself head-first into a fight this time the stakes were higher than just his own well-being.

_"Well, don't run away all the time, man. You've got to take the problem out at the source!"_

_'Sure, I'll just walk up to the guy with the rifle and the beam sabre in his hand and ask him to stop trying to turn me and the kids in here with me into dust! That's gonna go real well! I don't even have a weapon!'_

_"Dumbass, look at that guy," _said the voice. _"He's not even properly synced with his mech. I'll bet you a hundred bucks that this guy was just a last resort, used only because better pilots aren't availabe. Heck, you could probably kick his ass with ease and a few kung-fu moves!" _

_'Even if you say that, how am I any better? I just got into this mech by accident, and the few moves Tenten-chan taught me probably wouldn't translate to Gear-fights anyway!'_

_"There's a reason the Gear allowed you to pilot it!"_ cried the voice in exasperation. _"Look, if you don't fight back somebody is going to get hurt! What about the other kids from the orphanage? They're probably hiding somewhere in the forest right now, and the more you let that guy shoot the higher the chances of somebody dying!"_

Naruto froze, he hadn't thought about that. This proved to be a mistake, as the next shot barely grazed the side of his Gear's visor.

"Good, now you're listening. You see the plasma rifle that the guy's holding? There's a recharge time between every shot. He just fired now, so he's open. You just gotta watch out for the beam sabre, that's all."

The blonde teenager cursed. He made it sound so easy.

There was no choice however, and both of them knew it. The voice had made Naruto realize that the longer he drew out this battle, the more people were going to get hurt. The thought of any of his friends from the orphanage lying in a pool of their own blood or vaporized by a stray particle rifle shot steeled his resolve, and he charged forwards blindly.

Something seemed to change within that few seconds when he had started dedicating his mind to the thought of taking his enemy down. For some reason, the monitors seemed clearer, and he felt more in tune with the Gear that he was piloting. The trees underneath his feet felt real, and he could see the enemy Gear as though he was the thirty-feet mechanical giant instead of merely ordering its movements.

The move seemed to have taken the enemy Gear by surprise, and Naruto was soon within his guard. Grabbing the arm of the enemy, he forcefully wrenched the beam sabre out of it. Spinning around, he delivered a quick horizontal slash that decapitated his enemy.

The mech stumbled around blindly for a few seconds, discharging a few rounds from the particle rifle that Naruto made sure were aimed at the sky, and fell down, deactivating. Most of its sensors were in the head after all, and the pilot probably knew struggling at this point was impossible.

The Konohamaru Corps were staring at their leader in a new light, and Naruto himself was looking down at his hands. For a few seconds, he had felt like he was the Gear instead. The fresh wind in his face as he charged his enemy... The way that his heavy mechanical body moved and felt...

He quickly smacked himself up the head. He was Uzumaki Naruto, not some unnamed antique Gear. Now to try and convince himself of that.

---

"What just happened?" asked Hinata, amazed. "How did he... That movement pattern..."

"Yes, it's rather familiar, isn't it," asked Kakashi with a smile on his face. "Those weren't the movements of an amateur at all. In fact, you may remember that exact technique from during your pilot training days. The disarm technique of the Golden Flash, though it wasn't executed as smoothly."

They watched the orange Gear looked around. The other terrorist Gears were on at the other side of the city, but now that their comrade had fallen they'd be coming at him, not one-by-one, but a whole load at once. It would be an imposing sight for the new pilot, but Kakashi had confidence in this one.

Kakashi kept watching, unfazed. Now to see if he was good at multiple enemy combat.

---

"Quick, take the guy's gun! Now that you've brought down one of their guys they'll be going for you full-hog! You've got to arm yourself, man!"

'Right, right!'

Naruto quickly commanded the Gear, picking the discarded particle rifle up from the ground. Looking around, he realized that was still within the forest.

"Take it to the city. This is a bad place for you to fight against multiple enemies, with all the trees and whatnot. It'd be pretty easy for them to hide themselves inside the trees, and you'll have to hunt them down. That's what I'd suggest, anyway."

'How did I go from taking the kids out on a trip to running from terrorists to avoiding falling debris to piloting a Gear and fighting said terrorists?'

"Who gives a shit. Go, go, go!"

Naruto gave the mech underneath a kick and turned around, running off. The Gear that he was piloting was a little bit shorter than the trees around him, which meant that he still had some stealth. If the enemy was going to try and take him down... well, he wasn't going to let them do it that easily.

"That's the spirit!"

He burst out of the forest to awaiting fire. Several particle rifle shots went past him. Turning around, he raised his own and fired at one of the three mechs waiting for him. He missed by a mile.

_'Shit, this thing really is hard to aim...'_

_"Don't use it then,"_ said the voice sagely. _"You've got to do what you're good at! I think in your case this means close-range combat. Go get'em, tiger!"_

Dodging another few shots, he turned the corner and charged down the street. A row of large commercial buildings blocked the view between him and the terrorist Gears. This way he'd be able to get closer to them without them having a chance to fire.

Turning the corner again, he caught one of the Gears by surprise. Activating the beam sabre he was holding, he quickly delivered several uncontrolled slashes. Luckily, he quickly lopped off both of the mech's arms. Now that it was defenseless, he spun like a top slashing horizontally and decapitated another one.

"Cutting off heads seem to be your favourite way of ending a fight, eh? You should've been an executioner in the Middle Ages! Perfect for people like you. Now watch out, there're another two near you somewhere, so you've got to keep CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Naruto nearly jumped, but he didn't. Instead, he took the voice's advice and looked around a bit before entering the city. Most of the buildings in said city were large, due to a focus of commercialism, and therefore great hiding spots. Now, if there was only someway to find out where the rest of the enemy Gears were...

---

"Uh, sir?"

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Why's he letting that enemy Gear sneak up behind him?"

"Well, he could be just letting his victim into trap, could be just trying to lure out the other one, or..."

"Yes?"

There was a pause as the black Gear shot the orange one in the shoulder.

"He doesn't know how to turn radar on."

"That seems to be the most likely choice, sir."

---

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!'

The Konohamaru Corps looked at their leader.

He was gripping his shoulder, not expecting that pain was actually transferred through the Gear. The shot had been immediate, and he hadn't known what had happened until he saw on the monitor the streak of bright green light that went past him.

"Get a hold of yourself, man! You've got to take that guy down before he shoots you again!"

'I will, I will!'

Turning around, he saw the the particle rifle of his enemy's had almost finished charing. He looked at the rifle that he held in his hand. He couldn't shoot for shit anyway and it'd be a good idea to lose some extra weight. There was no way he was going to get within range before the enemy had finished charging his rifle and blew off his head, so he threw his own rifle at him, praying.

Luckily, it worked just as he hoped it would. Startled, the enemy shot his rifle prematurely and blew a hole in the projectile flying towards him. Naruto was within range now, and as he quickly dashed forwards he swung out the sabre that he held within his hands.

The bright green blade of light tore through the enemy mech's head, and landed on the street, deactivating. The mech fell to the ground as well, also deactivating. Naruto quickly moved forwards and picked up his beam sabre as well as the unactivated one that lay in the enemy mech's holster. He might need this later.

"Crazy technique, but why do you always aim for their head, man?"

'I'll tell you when we get out of this! No time now, incoming!'

He dodged a saber strike as his enemy leapt off the skyscraper he had been standing on. This guy seemed a bit more fluid, more used to his mech compared to the others. In one hand he held out his sabre, and in the other the sabre of one of his fallen comrades.

---

"Two dual-wielding sabre Gears?" muttered Hinata. In real combat this was a ludicrous idea, as each Gear always needed a far range attack just in case. There were Gears with built-in ranged attack weapons, of course, but even then most of those Gears were made specifically for sniping. "Sir, isn't that..."

"A bad idea?" asked Kakashi. "That's why they teach you in the academy, isn't it. Well, tell you the truth. On the battlefield any idea's good. You could go out with a survival knife and if you knew how to use it you'd survive."

"But, two swords...?"

"The important part of Gear-piloting is always to focus on what you're good at," noted Kakashi. "If you can't shoot the broad side of a barn point-blank you're not going to have much luck carrying around a sniper rifle. Looks like he's realized that, so that's why he's concentrated on going close-range."

Hinata wondered why he said 'realize'. Was the pilot a complete amateur after all? But if he really was an amateur how did he sync with his Gear so well? That wasn't possible unless it was specifically made for him, and new pilots never had custom Gears.

"I've never heard of a pilot who fought dual-sabres before!"

Kakashi smiled.

"Actually, you have," said the gray-haired man. "He's not famed for doing it, but it was something that he did all the time. See, the Golden Flash himself never managed to get the hang of guns either."

Hinata looked at her superior, incredulously.

---

"That's it, watch for his actions and then react. He won't know what's hit him!"

Naruto blocked another strike from the enemy's beam sabre, and tried to counter with his own. Both of them were like storms in motion, their sabres swiftly moving here and there like a fireworks lightshow. After a failed attempt at the enemy's leg, Naruto hopped backwards, out of the reach of his opponent's sabres.

'Alright, any tips here? I can't seem to get through his guards!'

"This guy's a tough one, and nothing's coming up, sorry. Looks like I still can't access my memory at will."

Dodging a charging thrust from his enemy, Naruto spun the sabre in his right hand and slashed it downwards towards his opponent's back. The damage that had been done to the shoulder of his Gear earlier was now taking its toll, and even though the pain had faded the movements of the joint were becoming sluggish.

Luckily, the enemy dropped his sabre as he put his hand on the floor to catch himself while blocking the attack with his other hand. Naruto took the chance and delivered a bone-shattering kick to the mech, which flung it aside. The beam sabre on the ground deactivated itself, and the orange Gear picked it up, wondering what to do with it. Suddenly, an idea popped inside his head, and he put it in his left hand, reverse the direction of the saber already there.

Another blade of light popped out of it, and Naruto grinned. Two shafts of light stuck out of the left hand of his Gear, each going in opposite directions. Now he was ready to kick some ass, Darth Maul-style.

"Whoo! Awesome!"

---

"Alright, I'll be honest with you here," said an amused Kakashi to his gaping comrade. "I've never seen that before."

---

Naruto quickly blocked a clumsy strike from his opponent. It seemed like after losing one of his weapons, he had lost some nerve as well. Swinging the hand with the two sabres, he charged his enemy. With any luck he'd be able to at least lop off an arm or something, but the black Gear was surprising resilient.

It dodged by hitting the ground in a duck, and when Naruto prepared himself to stab a sabre through the pavement where his enemy's head was it quickly rolled to the side and jumped behind a mall. Naruto charged blindly, swinging his arm, tearing through a little of the building and striking part of the black Gear's head. There was a little damage done, but nothing serious.

Taking his chance, the black mech countered.

Naruto stared at the stump that had been his mech's left hand, and realized he had been careless as pain blinded him. He knew that there was nothing there, and that his own hand was fine, but it seemed like his brain was telling him otherwise.

The Konohamaru Corps were on the verge of panicking as they watched their leader, when they looked up in shock at the monitor. The voice in Naruto's head was screaming, not in pain but at him.

"GET UP, GET UP! IF YOU DON'T GET UP, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

Naruto tilted his head up through his pain and saw what was happening. The black Gear was aiming its sabre at its fallen opponent, and Naruto could barely register what was happening as he stared at the screen.

The black Gear was aiming for the chest compartment. The cockpit.

Images flowed through his mind.

Death.

Blood.

Konohamaru lying in a pool of his own blood.

A decapitated Moegi.

Udon being burned to death.

Naruto, himself, being blown to bits as the Gear he was riding exploded.

The matron being gunned down by terrorists.

Tenten vapourized as a particle rifle in the hands of a black Gear recharged.

The orphanage on fire.

And in a fit of some unnatural strength, Naruto could feel the orange Gear's remaining hand, the one with the damaged shoulder, rise to the enemy's face in a fraction of a second. The blonde teenager was sure that if Gears could show emotion this one would've been shocked as he clenched his hand around the head of the black mech.

His hand started glowing red. He could feel the energy rising within his arm, and he could practically see the expression on his enemy's face. He didn't know how, but at this moment he was the Gear. Not Naruto. He could feel perfectly the faceplate of the enemy mech, the short-ciruiting stump that had been his left hand. The faded feeling that age and antiquity lent to him, and the darkness that he hid within his very soul.

"GUUUUUREEEEN SOOOUUGEEEKIIIII!"

For a split second, Naruto wondered where that sound was coming from. Then he realized, it was coming from himself. He was the one yelling, though he wasn't quite sure why.

The black mech's head exploded in a fit of energy. No, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't the enemy that had exploded, Naruto's weary mind noted, it had been his hand. Yet his hand -- no, the hand of his Gear -- was unharmed. The energy had poured through from his palm, and... had...

Just before the darkness over took him, Naruto wondered about the Gear he was riding. He thought about the way that it had looked at him when he first saw it... It was like it had been waiting for him. It wasn't logical, heck, the thing hadn't even been activated, but Naruto thought it looked, from the way that the light shone in the depths of that underground laboratory, that it was happy.

Happy that its pilot had come at last.

"WHOOOHOOO! THAT WAS AWESOME!"

Naruto grinned as he succumbed to the darkness, and let sweet unconsciousness brace him. Hopefully, he had taken down all of the black Gears. If not then... Well, then he was screwed.

---

List of Techniques

****

Guren Sougeki

Crimson Claw Strike

A/N: Whew, this is my first story written with an outline. None of my other stories had been, so I was never really sure where I was going with them. I suspect that was the reason I lost interest after the first few chapters, and I sincerely hope that this will be different. I hope you enjoy Spiral Nine, and please review if you have any constructive criticsms, questions, or encouragements. Everything is accepted and enjoyed, excluding flames.


	2. Chapter 2: Legacy

**Spiral Nine**

by Random Writer 46

**Chapter 2: Legacy**

**A/N: Spi-spi-spi, spi-spi-spi-spi Spiral Nine!**

**Blame it on Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. My first time playing it and I tried out the Touma route. The first guys I managed to get were Gaogaigar and two other Transformer-like bots. Dear god, I didn't except the GGG's theme song to be so catchy.**

---

_'Where am I?' _thought Naruto as he looked around.

The scenery was slightly familiar, in a strange way. He was in a sewers of some kind, though the water that flowed under him wasn't dirty at all and seemed actually rather clear. There was a sense of decay in the environment, however, and the blonde teen couldn't tell where the lighting was coming from. There were no windows of any kind, and no artificial lighting either, yet he could see. It was true that he couldn't see very well, but he still could see.

"Yo! There you are!"

Naruto spun around, looking towards the source of the voice. A young man, around the age of twenty, ran towards him, grinning. The blonde teenager had never seen the man before in his life, though his voice was slightly familiar.

He had blonde hair, just like Naruto's own though it was a lot spikier and longer. Whisker marks also streaked down his cheek, though he only had two on each instead of Naruto's three. His eyes were a wild red, and he wore a ragged bomber jacket over a simple white shirt along with jeans.

"Man, I've been looking all over the place for you," said the man as he stopped in front of Naruto. "Ever since you fell into that coma a week ago I've been trying to find you in here. Makes sense that when you go unconscious you end up inside your minds, eh?"

Inside his mind...?

"Oh!" Naruto realized. "You're the voice guy!"

"Yeah, that's me," he said proudly. "The only guy other than you who lives in your head. I was worried at first, but it looks like you just have DPS. The symptoms are kind of different, but I guess seeing it from the outside is a bit different from seeing it on the inside. Though in your case it seems a bit different."

"Wait, coma? DPS?" Naruto was confused, and slightly worried. "What are you talking about?"

"Debut Piloting Syndrome," explained the blonde man. "Sometimes the first time a person pilots the Gear rejects them after a while. Then they slip into a short coma while their brain rearranges everything to make synchronizing with the Gear easier. When they come out of it they'd be A-OK, and I've never heard of a pilot relapsing. The coma lasts from half a day to a week, depending on the person and the type of connection that the Gear used."

"So you think I have DPS?"

"Well, something like that. Actually, your mind doesn't seem to be changing or rearranging at all. How do I explain this... Oh yeah, you know when you buy a computer, you have to install all this stuff and junk and everything, right?"

"That's what some of my friends told me."

"Well, it's like that for a new pilot," nodded the blonde man sagely. "For you though, it's more like you shut the computer off and left it in storage for a long, long time. Then you reconnect it and it takes a while for it to boot up, right? That's 'cause the computer is getting used to being used again. Something like that."

"So you think I've piloted before?" asked Naruto, incredulously. "I've never even seen one of those things before in real life!"

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. I never said that," reassured the 'voice'. "I've heard of theories before about kids being born with the natural ability to pilot Gears. These kids are one in a million, and it's like they were born to be wired up to a mech and led out to cause mayhem. That's what I've heard anyway, and it looks like that's what I'm looking at right now."

"You think I'm one of these... natural-born pilots?"

"Seems like the only possible thing, ain't it?" asked the blonde man, grinning. "Anyway, c'mon. I don't like this part of your mind. Let's get to somewhere a bit warmer, and we can keep talking."

"Really? What's wrong with it?"

"Dude! We're hanging around the sewers of your mind! I don't want to spend ten seconds in that same part of a new-born baby so I definitely don't want to spend an hour in said part of a hormone-raging zit-popping fifteen-year-old teen. I'm going, keep up!"

He had already made off when Naruto absorbed his speech.

"HEY! WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR!" yelled the blonde teen, flushed in embarassment, as he raced off after the older man. Older he may have been, but there was no way in the seven hells that he was maturer. Actually, his maturity was probably neck-to-neck with Konohamaru's.

"Shut up! I've seen your fantasies of that brown-haired Chinese chick the last time I stuck around too long! If you think I'm hanging around here for another one you've got another thing coming!" yelled the blonde man as he looked back.

"That's an invasion of privacy!"

"It's not like I wanted to see!"

---

"So, what's your name?" asked Naruto.

He wasn't quite sure how they had managed it, but during the middle of their chase in the sewers they had somehow ended up somewhere else. Naruto had instantly recognized this clearing, after all he had been here just a few days ago.

It was the same clearing that he had hung up his hammock. Said hammock was there, and he had made himself comfortable in it. Maybe it was a memory or something, but Naruto really didn't want to think about that right now. He just wanted to enjoy the sunlight washing down on him after that brief stint in the sewers. He hadn't realized it, but the part of his mind that he had just come from had been dreadfully cold.

"What do you mean?" asked the blonde man who sat underneath him, leaning against the stump marked with an 'x'.

Naruto had realized quickly that this clearing was not all that he had seen it to be, just most of it. Here and there several details were different, including that stump where he had found his Gear and a small grave that he had made several years earlier...

---

He had been wondering about his parents, and one thing lead to another. They were but specters to him, he realized. He had no memories of them, no recollections of their faces. No feeling of warmth, no past to remember. Suddenly, a strange, yet deep feeling overcame him. It was of the feeling of despair.

If his own parents could be so invisible to him, could be be invisible to the rest of the world? What if everybody around him died? What if nobody remembered him? What if he too, like his parents, would become invisible to those of the future generation?

He didn't want that. He wanted to be remembered. He had been invisible during his earlier years in the orphanage, completely overlooked. Only the matron ever paid attention to him, and she was usually too rushed to even do that for long. He wanted to be remembered! He didn't want to fade!

Naruto had been scared.

And with a knife that he had stolen from the kitchen, he quickly took to the woods. He didn't know how long he ran, just that he wanted to get away from it all. The despair came at him from all sides however, and he knew that there would be no way he could outrun it. Just when he was about to collapse from hunger and fatigue, however, he came upon a small clearing.

There were a lot of ways to be remembered, at least that's what the fairy tales said. There was the bad guy, the hero... A lot of different things. But they all had something in common, a distinguished trait that made them different from everybody else. He didn't have anything like that, at least that's what he had thought.

When he had gotten to that clearing though, he had seen something that would forever leave an imprint within him. A fox cub was being attacked by a full-grown wolf. At that time he didn't understand why an animal would attack another animal so ferociously, especially something that was so much smaller than it. He had thought of protecting the small orange cub, but when the sight of those slobbering fangs on the wolf entered his eyes he hesitated, and cowered.

Just when things looked the bleakest however, a large orange fox jumped out of the foliage. It was larger than the fox cub, though still a bit smaller than the wolf. Naruto realized, transfixed by the view, that the larger fox was either the father or the mother of the cowering cub on the forest floor.

Within seconds a fight had escalated, and Naruto couldn't help but watch, hidden in the bushes. The wolf was stronger, faster, and more skilled, yet the orange fox fought with an unmatched determination and willpower. It was fighting for a reason more than just simple survival, it was fighting for the fate and life of its precious person.

The wolf's overall toughness was no match for the will and summoned strength of the older fox, however, and it soon fled, yowling. yet victory was not without a price, as the winner had been fatally wounded. Walking softly towards its cub, blood trailing down its fur, the elder fox lay down beside its child. It seemed to knew that it was goin to die, and spent the last few minutes of its life reassuring the cub beside it.

Naruto had watched, gripped by a feeling he knew now as the truest form of the emotion known as sadness, as the spirit left the older fox's body. The cub had fallen asleep now, unaware of what was happening around it. Naruto had then realized the folly of his thinking.

His parents weren't gone... They were still here. Inside of him.

His existence validated the existence of those who predated him. He was their son, the proof of their existence. He made up their flesh and blood, and even if nobody else knew who they were or what they were like, Uzumaki Naruto knew. All he had to do to see what they had looked like was to look in a mirror, all he had to do to know what they acted like was ask a friend.

He was their past, present, and future.

He was their legacy.

The eight-year old Naruto had quietly slipped into the clearing, and extracted the fox cub from the embrace of its parent. Putting it down lightly on the grass beside, he started digging, with the knife, a proper grave. He didn't know how long he had worked, but he knew that he had been past fatigue and hunger. There had been something driving him, perhaps emotion or a feeling of connection.

In the end, he had given the older fox a burial, and another fox had soon entered the clearing. It looked at Naruto, as though it knew what he had done, and gave him a short nod. It picked the cub up with its mouth, and walked out of the clearing deeper into the forest.

Naruto had gone home to the orphanage, where the matron had fussed over the blood on his body and the dirt and grime that covered him. It wasn't until he sat on his bed staring up out of the window at te full moon did he start crying.

Within his small left hand, he clutched an orange hair. It had come off from the fox when he had been burying it, and it was something that he would keep for the rest of his life. Encasing it within a small round case around the size of a quarter that he had found a days ago on the street, he made a necklace out of it.

The next day, he asked the matron if there was any orange clothing from charity. She had given him a strange look, before directing his gaze towards a small pile of untouched clothing. He had torn into them, not giving a second look.

Over time he had lessened the extremity of orange on his body, and learnt of moderation. Yet he would never forget the most humbling moment in his life when he saw that fox die for its precious person and its beliefs.

For as long as he would live, he would remember.

---

"...You there? Say something if you can hear me!"

Naruto snapped to attention. Seeing that grave had brought a flashback on, and although it wasn't exactly an unpleasant experience he would have to watch blanking out in front of company.

"Yeah, what is it?"

The blonde man grinned.

"Wow, you're the only guy I know who could pull off spacing out while in their own minds," said the man, happily. Then his expression turned a little uneasy. "Um, you do know that I saw the entire thing, right? I'm sorry, but I couldn't really help..."

"Don't worry about it," said Naruto, exasperated. "It's not like I can control what you see or don't see. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that you saw it one way or another when you were looking through my memory. It's only the entire reason that I act the way I do now."

"Actually, I just kind of skimmed over your memories when I was looking," said the voice. "Didn't really want to go too in-depth, since you've got your privacy and all... Didn't really see that part. Still, it does explain a lot about how responsible you are."

"Responsible?" asked Naruto, grinning. "Dude, for the length of time you've known me I managed to get three kids along with myself into life-risking danger like three times, man. I'm not the most responsible guy on this side of the planet, that's for sure."

"But you managed to get them out, right? That's what counts. You put their safety above your's the whole time. I should know, I was in your mind during the whole thing after all."

Naruto fell silent. He really didn't know how to reply to that.

"So you can access your memories now then?" asked the blonde teen.

"Eh? When did I say that?"

"Well, it's just the way that you talk. It's like you can remember a whole lot of things all of the sudden," said Naruto. "Not like when you first talked to me."

The blonde man underneath raised a fingerless-gloved hand to his chin.

"Something like that. I still can't access my memory at will, but now it's like things are coming to me whenever I need them. Kind of like how sometimes you get up from the couch and forget what you were about to do and have a really hard time finding out what, but when you turn on the radio you recognize the song playing immediately."

"...You've got some interesting metaphors."

"Meta-what?"

"Nevermind," sighed Naruto. Then he remembered the question that had started all of this. "Oh yeah, you need a name. It's really hard conversing with a guy in your head without something to call him, you know. I don't care if you can't really remember your own, just make something up or whatever."

"Oh, a name, eh..." smiled the blonde man. "Man, that's a great idea. I was getting tired of referring to myself as voice."

Naruto did a double-take and almost fell off his hammock.

"You too!"

"Shut up. How many times do I have to remind you that I was in your mind when you decided to classify me that way? I can't help it when the first guy that I talk to decides that I'm just an unembodied annoying sound-producing object prancing around in his head!"

"Sorry..."

"Lessee then," said the voice. "Something that fits me..."

They sat in silence for while as Naruto just enjoyed the sunshine and the voice just thought about it. There really wasn't much to talk about, and Naruto found himself wondering what was happening on the outside after he had collapsed while piloting the Gear. Hopefully everybody was alright, but if he was only in a coma and not dead then nothing too bad could be happening, right?

Unless the terrorists were just waiting for him to wake up to torture him for information or something... At this thought the blonde teenager blanched. He sincerely hoped that nothing had happened and that somebody had cleaned up the terrorist mess, after all the other possibility was not something he wanted to think about right now.

"Alright, I got it!"

Naruto looked down, "What?"

"Get this, what do you think of the name... Kyuubi?"

Silence.

"It kinda suits you."

---

She was known to her kids as the matron, and many of them even forgot her real name. She was usually happy just caring for her children and trying to raise them up to be the best they could be, but right now she was just worried. Worried the way that a mother hen might worry for her chicks.

Standing over the bed that hosted the prone form of one of her kindest and most energetic children, she looked over him, dabbing at her eyes. Naruto's own eyes were open even as he stayed unconscious, and his blank stare was not something that she wanted to see right now. While she was in here taking care of him several of her more responsible and older charges had practically taken over the running of the orphanage, though they still came to her for advice on how to change diapers and such. It was good to see that they cared so much and that they understood what she was going through.

Maybe they were glad that she cared, maybe this way they knew for sure that she would do the same for them if they ever got into an accident like this. Maybe, maybe, maybe... Maybe it would've been better if she had never taken this post up at all, if it could spare the boy in front of her the pain that he was going to go through.

"Ma'am?" asked a timid voice from the door.

She turned around. Shizuka, a young girl that had come in three years ago, fidgeted nervously in the doorway.

"Yes, dear?"

"There's a man who wants to see you at the front door."

"What does he look like?" asked the matron, kindly.

"He's got gray-hair, and he was reading this orange book when he came in..."

The matron nodded. This was inevitable.

"Send him in, dear."

"Alright," the girl turned towards the hallway. "GUYS! MATRON SAYS WE CAN LET HIM IN!"

There was the sound of a scuffle, though it soon faded away. Shizuka exited the doorway and went back to whatever she had been doing as Hatake Kakashi walked into the room, calm as you'd please. He took a look at the boy on the bed.

"He really is the splitting image of his father," smiled the gray-haired man.

"Yes," agreed the matron. "He acts the same way too. Very energetic and responsible. He'd have a bright future, if he wasn't going to be forced to pilot Gears..."

"The Golden Flash would've wanted it this way."

"Would the Golden Flash really have wanted his child to turn out the way he did if he knew how he would end up?" asked the matron with an edge. She usually avoided talking like she used to, but the presence of somebody from her past life was really putting some stress on her. "He always did say that he wanted his son to live a happy and fulfilling life... Are you sure that man would condemn his own flesh and blood to a life like that?"

"In time we all die," said the silver-haired man, no longer smiling. "All we know is that his death has already been pre-ordained. I'm not happy about it, but it's the only way now. Anyway, his death is not a hundred-percent. Starting his piloting training earlier, rather than later, would improve his chances of surviving."

The matron sighed, setting herself down in a chair.

"I guess you're right," said the woman. She looked a lot younger than her actual age usually due to frequent exercise and a few gene-altering procedures when she had been a Gear pilot in her earlier days, but now she was truly showing her age. She was tired. "I guess you always knew what had to be done."

"I know this isn't the most humane thing to do to a child," admitted the gray-haired man. "But please believe me, I wouldn't have done this _if_ I had a choice."

"So when are you going to do it?"

"More or less about the time that he wakes up. I estimate that'll be tomorrow, though the Golden Flash himself always managed to surpass my expectations, so I expect that his son wouldn't be any less surprising," admitted Kakashi. "It was good talking to you, matron-san. But I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave now. A comrade of mine is waiting at the door and I bet by now several children have noticed her eyes."

"An Uchiha? No... they were wiped out a few years ago during the Iwa war, weren't they? A Hyuuga then?"

"Main house," agreed the gray-haired man. "See you later, Tsunade-sama. Thank you for your time."

And with that, the man walked out of the room. Tsunade could hear several children giggling as they saw the man walk by reading that smut of his. He wasn't exactly a role model, but there was no doubt in Tsunade's mind that he always done what he had thought was right.

Sitting in her chair, she looked at Naruto's face. Though his stare was blank, his face was devoid of pain. He was almost in peace, as though he was just resting. Devoid of boiling anger, devoid of burdening sadness, devoid of hidden desperation, and devoid of the weight of responsibility. She thought it was almost laughable when she realized where her train of thought.

She had been one of the most feared of pilots, one of the three Legendary Generals, and now she was going soft.

---

Tenten walked up to the front door of the orphanage. She had never known Naruto lived in a place like this... Maybe he hadn't wanted anybody to know. That was probably why he never invited anybody home, or let anybody walk with him after school. She clenched her hands.

He had always seemed so lonely.

Ever since the first day she had met him during grade eight, she had noticed that. He was loud during classes, and seemed to attract a group of guys who seemed to think he was the best thing since sliced bread. But one day when she had cut off from her friends during lunch she had seen him.

He had been sitting alone under a cherry tree, as the tree bloomed. In one hand he held a sandwich, and in the other he held a pencil. There had been a small notepad in his lap, and he had been scribbling something. There had been something wrong with that, she realized, but she didn't know what it was until she took a look at the surroundings.

He was truly, simply alone.

Nobody was here, not in this area. Only then did Tenten realize that she had never seen him before in the school during lunch time and never during break. He never hung out with his buddies after school and alway seemed to vanish like the wind.

He never had any real friends.

And she had felt as though she saw a deeper side to the prankster. There was something down there, and she wanted to know what. She wanted to know why he had seemed to distant when he was so close and why he was seemed so cold when he shined like the sun.

She befriended him, and then managed to see even deeper than she had done that day, but she had never managed to find out why he felt so lonely. Like he didn't have a place that he truly belonged.

Maybe, this was the reason.

Tenten raised her hand to the door, and knocked. The door opened, and a young man appeared at the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Excuse me, but does Uzumaki Naruto live here?"

"Naruto-san? Yeah, of course. He's upstairs right now. You wanna see him?"

"Yes, please," Tenten said.

The boy turned back and relayed the message to a younger boy who bounded up the stairs behind him. The brown-haired girl couldn't help but notice the simple clothing they wore, and the slight chill of the room. In her mind, the orphanage had been a scary place filled with delinquents and other dangerous people, but reality often differed from fantasies. The children here were the same as she, just that they had been unfortunate in some way or the other.

The boy soon bounded down the stairs again, and whispered into the ear of the boy who had greeted Tenten.

"Yeah, you can go see him. Go up the stairs here, down the hallway. His room's 203," directed the boy. "Also, the matron's in there right now, so you better not bother them too much, alright? Naruto-san's sleeping and the matron's looking after him."

Tenten followed his directions, though slightly rude he may have been. She didn't blame him, there probably wasn't anybody to teach him manners here anyway. One thing however dominated her mind. From the way that the boy talked, there was something more to Naruto right now than he was just sleeping.

---

"Um... hello?"

Tsunade looked towards the doorway. There stood a young lady around the same age as her charge, standing uneasily as she looked towards the bed. From her position Tsunade knew that she wasn't able to see Naruto's open yet sleeping eyes, which had frightened several of the younger children earlier.

"Come in, make yourself at home," said the matron, amused. "You are a friend of Naruto's, yes?"

"Thank you, ma'am, and yes I am," verified Tenten as she walked into the room. When she had sufficiently entered however, her eyes turned towards the bed and she was visibly startled. Tsunade sighed. "What happened to Naruto?"

"Don't worry. It's just a temporary affliction."

Tenten calmed down slightly.

"Oh, alright then..." said the brown-haired girl. "Um, what happened?"

Tsunade knew that there was no way she could tell the whole truth to the girl in front of her. The orange Gear that Naruto had been piloting was a secret of the military, and even then only the higher-ups knew about it. As far as she knew the amount of people who both knew the secret and were still alive were in the single digits, and she knew if she added to that then it'd be considered treason.

"He was caught up in something that should've had nothing to do with him."

That was as close to the truth as she could reveal, and if the girl was smart as she seemed to be then she wouldn't ask unnecessary questions. Tenten nodded, though her eyes still rested on Naruto's prone form. There were indeed a lot of questions that she wanted to ask, but she couldn't trust herself to speak.

They sat in silence for a while as Tenten pulled up a chair.

"So, how did you find this place anyway?" asked Tsunade. "Naruto told me that nobody in his school knew that he came from here."

"Oh, I looked up his student records," said Tenten. "He didn't come to school for a week."

"Ah," nodded Tsunade. "Good to hear that Naruto has friends that would go so far for him. He's always been rather introverted even if he doesn't look like it."

Tenten flushed at her words.

Tsunade quickly eased Tenten's mind, and they soon began conversing about all kinds of things. Both of them had instantly taken a liking to the other, and found common ground in their fondness for Naruto. Tsunade was in the middle of describing an accident where Naruto had accidentally put centipedes into the evening porridge when the sound of movement came from the direction of the bed.

Both women instantly stopped, and turned to look at the source of the noise. Naruto's eyes had closed, and he was starting to move a little. Within seconds one eye had opened, and then the other. Sitting up, the blonde-haired teenager stretched and looked about the room.

Silence.

"Why are you two looking at me like I'm a zombie?"

---

One day passed by quickly.

Hinata followed her superior as they made their way through the streets. The black Gears hadn't done as much damage as some of them had thought, but still there were people who were currently sheltering with friends and family. There were government agents sent to help those who really needed it, but otherwise the place could be fixed in a few months.

She had asked several times about the orange Gear that had appeared, but each time the question came flying out of her mouth Kakashi had deflected it with a well-placed change of subject. There was an aura of mystery about the strange Gear that they had taken into custody, but even more mysterious to her was the pilot of it. The way that he had moved in the beginning was incredibly clunky, but as the battle began to rage he seemed to grow and develop, and the fight at the end had truly surprised her.

The attack that he had used was a CBIO, something that could only be used by pilots completely accustomed to their Gears. A Chakra-Based Infusion Operation was incredibly hard to use, something that required throrough experience in piloting a certain Gear and utmost concentration as well as powerful emotion. There was no logical explanation for it, but there was also no debunking it. An unexplained phenomenon, the only thing that each pilot who used it had in common was their recognition with their mecha.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice as they neared the orphanage. Only when Kakashi had walked up the steps and knocked on the door did she snap out of it. At the sight of the place she slipped into light shock. this was where they were going to pick up the pilot? He lived in an orphanage?

---

"What happened here?" asked Kakashi.

"Well, the kids partied for a bit after the boy woke up. He's one of them, you know..." said Tsunade as she looked around the room. "A classmate of his joined in for a bit, but then went back home since her parents didn't know what she was doing. Too bad, the poor kid looked like she really wanted to spend some quality time with him."

Tsunade noticed Hinata.

"Oh, who's this?"

"My subordinate, Hyuuga Hinata."

"So this is the one you were talking about yesterday..."

Hinata felt vaguely uncomfortable as the two spoke about her as if she wasn't even in the room. There was no doubt in her mind that this matron was someone very powerful, as few who knew Kakashi dared address him without an honourific.

"So, where is he anyway?"

"Sleeping in his room," replied the matron. "He's been pretty tired. The long rest weakened his muscles a bit."

"Then shouldn't he be exercising instead?"

They were walking through the hallway as they talked. Hinata caught the eyes of several of the younger children who looked at her eyes strangely. Even here, it seemed, the Hyuuga blood of her's also managed to steal attention. It wasn't exactly something that she was proud of... More like it was something she was cursed with.

"They're not that weakened. He's a tough guy, and he's been jumping around since the day they stuck him with me," said Tsunade with a smile. "Actually, I prefer him staying in bed than out, it seems to calm this place down a whole lot."

"If he's anything like his father," mused Kakashi. "I'd understand."

Hinata tried to absorb all this new information. So Kakashi knew the father of the person whom they were looking for? From their talk, it didn't seem like he was too old. Her heart started beating slightly faster, it would be nice if she could find a friend her age to talk to...

"Alright, we're here."

---

Naruto looked up as several people entered the room. The matron was followed by a strange, gray-haired man who wore a headband tilted at an angle. What caught his eye however was the military uniform that he wore, something that he had seen quite frequently on the news and such. It was the uniform of the captain of a battleship, and seeing that nearly made Naruto drop the book he had been reading.

"Naruto, this is Captain Hatake Kakashi of the Messiah-class battleship the UWS Yggdrasil," Tsunade said. "Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Thank you, matron-san," said Kakashi with a slight bow. Then he turned towards a bewildered blonde teen. "You must be wondering why I'm here. Well, Naruto-kun. Me and my men were the ones who extracted you from that Gear you had been using in the fight against the Schwartz terrorist group."

Naruto jolted. He hadn't thought about how he had gotten out of there at all. Did the matron know?

"Relax," said the gray-haired man firmly. "All who know are the matron, myself, and several of my subordinates. Also, I am not here to prosecute you for using government property as it was in defense of your city. Casualties are low compared to what would've happened had you not been there."

"T...Thanks, then why are you here? ...Kakashi-san."

"Simple. You displayed extraordinary learning capabilities during your battle," said the captain. "You, a pilot who had never even seen the instruction manual for a Gear, had managed to take down in battle four trained terrorists. I would like you to join us on the UWS Yggdrasil, as we have no other pilot for the experimental Gear that you brought to life."

Naruto sat in stunned silence.

"You... you're trying to recruit me into the military?"

"No, not the military. That's a common misconception. The military uses tanks and jets and the like and are ruled over by the generals of the army, while battleships and Gears belong to the Council. They have absolutely no control over us, and we have our own chain of command and structure," verified Kakashi. "Please take some time to think about it, as we realize that it's not an easy decision. I'll leave my subordinate here with you, and when you come to a decision please inform her."

"So you're leaving then?" asked Tsunade.

"Forgive me," smiled the gray-haired man. "Paperwork's been piling up on my desk since the incident with the Schwartz. I still have several forms to fill out and a whole lot of stamping to do. I'll just introduce you to my subordinate then, and I'll be off."

Hinata hadn't been able to see the boy with both the captain and the matron blocking her way, but now Kakashi had moved to the side. Naruto's eyes met her's and both of them had to stop to pick up their jaws from where they had been on the floor. Kakashi's eyes curved in amusement.

"Hyuuga Hinata, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto-kun, this is Hinata. I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Ja ne."

And so both the captain and the matron strode out of the room, one reading his naughty orange book and the other looking back every now and then as though to make sure Naruto was doing alright after that shocker.

---

_"Dude, she's cute."_

_'I was wondering where you had been.'_

"I didn't know you were a pilot," said an amazed Naruto. "I mean, wow... Is that where you wanted to know where to go? The place with the orange Gear?"

"Y-yes, although Kakashi-san didn't tell me until we actually arrived there," said Hinata. She really hated this stuttering habit of her's. It always popped into effect around somebody who she wasn't familiar with. It made situations uncomfortable, and always kept others away from her.

Naruto thought about this for a few seconds. There was something weird in what she was saying, but he couldn't really put his hands on it until he pieced together the timeline. So, Hinata had gone to the laboratory where the orange Gear had been stored, but then why hadn't she piloted it during the invasion?

There were pieces he was missing here.

"W-was that really the first time you piloted?"

"Yeah... Though I don't think it was really as hard as everyone seems to think it is..."

"You don't find it hard at all?" asked Hinata, amazed. "There are those who go to the Academy for years and still don't manage to even sync with their Gears. To do something like that... You must have had special training!"

"No, I'm serious. That was the first time I've ever even thought of being a pilot. I've never been trained before."

Hinata gasped mentally. The boy in front of her was definately a natural-born pilot. She had heard of them before, but she had never ever thought that she would meet one. The thought of the boy's ability however made her conscious of her own skills, or lack thereof. The cold voice of her father came back to her...

No, she wouldn't relapse again. She didn't need to think about him. He had wanted her out of his life as well as the clan's, and he had gotten what he had wanted. She was an important member of the crew of the UWS Yggdrasil. His words wouldn't dominate her entire life.

Now she just had to convince herself that.

"Are you alright?" asked Naruto, concerned.

Hinata snapped out of it, and then remembered where she was.

"Oh, I'm alright. I apologize."

Naruto grinned.

"No problem! Oh yeah, I've been wondering about something."

"Yes?"

"Why do you pilot Gear? You... don't seem like the kind of person who would fight just because you could..."

Hinata didn't even need to think.

"You're right. I pilot it just because I could," she said without hesitation, without the slightest tremor in her voice. Naruto blinked in surprise. Her entire demeanor had changed. It was as if she had repeated this speech over and over again, and this was the culmination of her efforts. "Are you aware of the amount of people in the world who can pilot Gear?"

"Isn't it everybody?" asked a bewildered blonde.

"No, it's definately not everybody," said the blue-haired girl. "Since you've already piloted, I guess I'll be able to explain a few things about Gears... Do you know anything about Gears at all?"

"Well, only that they're big and that they're robots... Not much else."

"Well... We live in an age of sophistication. The military has AI for a lot of its computers and weaponry. Given that, do you know why Gears have to be piloted by real people instead of having an AI equipped in it?" asked Hinata. "It would be a lot better since artificial intelligence don't have to be trained and also have no fear nor disobedience. It would also keep casualties to a minimum."

"Uh... because... there's something that we have that machines don't?" asked Naruto. "Something that outweighs everything else?"

"Exactly," said Hinata. "It's also the same reason Gears are humanoid. This reason is the NEO-S, which stands for the Neural Extended Operation System. It allows us to control the Gear like it's our own body. There's no way that an AI could handle all the information that the Gears send, so for practical uses the human mind is the best. However, the system isn't perfect."

Naruto thought of the battle, of when he seemed to combine with the Gear. Realization dawned on him as he realized it had been present ever since he had entered the mech. He had simply controlled the Gear... No instructions, nothing. The motions it required weren't even the same as his bodily functions. He had moved the robot like it had been an extension of himself.

"Is that the same reason not everybody can become pilots?"

"Yes. The NEO-S is a system that nobody truly knows about except for the man who created it. What's known however, is that it only accepts a certain type of people. There's no way to find out what it looks for, but what's certain is that it accepts only an estimated twenty-five hundred of the population in Konoha."

Naruto was startled.

"Twenty... twenty-five hundred? But our country... Konoha, has like... a hundred-thirty million people living here!"

"That's right. It seems to have something to do with genes, as most people who can pilot Gears come from families known for that ability," said Hinata, bitterly. Naruto looked at her. It almost seemed like she had personal experience in the matter. "You and I, we're one of the few people who CAN pilot Gears."

She fell silent as Naruto looked down at his hands.

"I... I... must be leaving now," said Hinata. She had blurted out more than she had wanted to, and now the awkwardness of the situation was getting to her. Her stuttering habit had come back too, now that her passion was derived from her. "I'm sorry for bothering you, Naruto-kun."

Just before she reached the doorway however, Naruto's voice reached her.

"Wait, you... still hadn't told me why you pilot yet."

Hinata didn't turn around.

"I pilot for the people who can't."

As Hinata walked out of the doorway, Naruto thought about a lot of things. She had seemed so powerful, so determined right then. And Naruto knew why she had been like that, why her words had carried with them the implications of soemthing so deep.

It was simple. It was the truth.

Naruto was sure of that.

_"Whoa, you couldnt tell underneath that Yamato Nadeshiko exterior, but she's got the heart of Xena," _murmured Kyuubi. _"What I wouldn't give to have a physical body right now! Totally haaaaaaawwwwwt! Man, how do you think she does it in...?"_

_'Get out of my head," _mumbled a blushing Naruto. There had been slight thoughts of that, he had to admit, but Kyuubi was going way too far. _'And if that last word was going to be 'bed', I'm going to find a way to kill you. You're like twenty, and she's fourteen!'_

_"Oh yeah... Damn."_

_'Pedophile.'_

Naruto was left with a lot of think about.

_---_

** Yamato Nadeshiko - Supposedly the ideal Japanese woman.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Yggdrasil

**Spiral Nine**

by Random Writer 46

**Chapter 3: The Yggdrasil**

---

Hatake Kakashi walked up to the orphanage the fourth time.

With any luck, this would also be the last time.

Hinata had phoned him a few hours ago. It seemed like the boy had made a choice now. She hadn't told him what it was, although her voice had been slightly nervous... It was likely that she herself hadn't been told what exactly his answer were going to be. He understood. After all, he had counted on her behaviour as being the most important variable in this entire thing.

Kakashi didn't think of himself as a manipulative person, but people who knew him understood that he could be so when things really depended on him. Hinata could affect Naruto's entire view of the Gear world, the one that he would possibly enter. His first glimpse of the military life would be through her eyes, and it could make or break the entire scenario. That was one of the main reasons he had taken her along in this mission, though she herself didn't know that.

He had viewed the scene from every different angle, and nothing could be done now. All the variables that could've been turned to his side had already been, and the chances were still fifty-fifty from his point of view. After all, if the boy didn't want to become a true pilot then there would be no way out for them anymore.

Kakashi smiled bitterly.

If he could, he definitely would've saved the boy from the pain that he would have to go through. He would've never come to this place, and left him to the orphanage and given him a chance to grow up unaffected by the scenario that had been put out before him.

But too many lives had been lost to prepare for his coming, and too many lives were at stake. To give up now was to spit in the faces of those who sacrificed themselves to ensure the safety of humanity and to pave the world a path to a grim and desolate future.

The Golden Flash, Obito, and Rin...

For them he would continue on.

For them he would bear the guilt that had already arrived.

If only Naruto's shoulders didn't bear the weight of the world.

---

"You're sure?" asked Hinata, cautiously.

In the hours that she had spent in the blonde's company, she had learnt quite a bit about him. He was energetic usually, though when danger reared its head he could become incredibly responsible. His goals were shrouded in mystery, but she was confident that Naruto's spirit was that of a good person's.

He had explained everything that had happened during the time that he had found the Gear (except for the parts about Kyuubi, which Naruto wanted to keep to himself), and she hoped that she had proved an attentive audience. As incredibly as his story was, she couldn't find it within herself to hold doubts about the story, not with the way that the blonde energetically explained everything.

She had gasped when he told her about the people pursuing him through the woods, and explained that what he had expected had been true. The terrorist organization, Schwartz, had been recently almost completely destroyed by the military as well as the KAGE, the Konoha Army of GEars. What the city had been assaulted by had been several pilots who had still been in training as well as several officers of the organization who had managed to escape the assault on their headquarters. The pilots were actually sent to dominate the city and soldiers had been sent out into the city and surrounding landscape. It seemed like their goal had been to take the entire population of the city as hostage.

He had asked her a little about how it was to pilot for her, and she explained, somewhat embarassed, that she enjoyed it a bit too much because she knew that it was something that only a few people, including her, managed to do. When she had blushed, he had quickly grinned and told her that there was nothing wrong with feeling that way. He had also complimented her on her resolve and her reason for piloting, which, thankfully, he had never inquired further about.

Naruto had also, grinning happily, noted that she had stopped stuttering around her, which brought on another round of said stuttering. Yet Hinata wasn't surprised at all. With the blonde's cheery attitude she had kind of expected, somewhere in her mind, that they would become friends quick. It was great to have made a friend her age, as the other pilots and engineers had deemed her too high-class with her Hyuuga heritage to make contact with.

It was refreshing to meet somebody who wouldn't look at her as though she was just another Hyuuga, one of those destined to take control of a Gear and fight for their country.

Yet he hadn't told her of his answer, and for that she was worried.

_---_

_"You're sure about this, man?" _asked Kyuubi.

Naruto didn't miss a beat. He let his body go auto-pilot, letting it take control over his current conversation with the cute blue-haired girl in front of him, and looked into his mind. He had started practicing this a short while ago, and it really was working quite well. He needed to be able to talk with Kyuubi without looking insane, after all.

_'Yeah, completely,' _he replied.

Kyuubi seemed to fall into a short silence, though Naruto could sense that the voice was uneasy. It seemed to be thinking deeply about something, as far as he could tell anyway. Slight emotions flowed into his mind from the entity, and finally after a few seconds he spoke up.

_'What is it?'_

_"Why do you hesitate anyway?" _asked the voice. _"You aren't scared of death, from what I could see in your mind. You're more scared of people that are precious to you dying than death itself. Shouldn't this be a perfect scenario for you?"_

Naruto wasn't quite sure where this conversation was going to turn, although he did have a slight sense. It did feel a little strange though to have somebody else make a psychological analysis of yourself, but he figured the feeling would pass.

_'What do you mean?'_

_"You've been asked to take a position where you risk your life to protect people. As one of the few Gear pilots in the world you'll be given enough money and fame to make sure you leave your mark on the world. Why the hesitation, man?"_

Naruto sighed.

_'Fine... Fine.'_

_"What's the hold up? Why aren't you taking this position already? Tell me, man. I'm a part of you now, as far as we're both concerned! I should have a say in everything! Do you hate freedom!"_

_'You should already know, you're in my mind after all,' _reasoned the blonde.

_"Well yeah, but I'm too lazy to actually look."_

_'Your own fault then.'_

_"Fine, fine... I'll check it out."_

_'And...?'_

_"Whoa, that's a helluva thing."_

_'Tell me about it.'_

_---_

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

Both the said blonde and Hinata looked up. Kakashi stood in the doorway, accompanied by Tsunade. The gray-haired man looked no different than usual, though Naruto could tell that Tsunade was slightly agitated. This whole week had been weird, and it seemed to be that way forthe matron as well.

Kakashi walked into the room, giving a little wave to the matron. Tsunade nodded and left, her footsteps resounding through the corridor. This was a matter of privacy now, and he doubted that Naruto would want people listening in when he was going to be making possibly one of the most important choices in his life.

Also, Tsunade wasn't a part of KAGE anymore. What might come out in this conversation was a little bit too classified for her status now as a civilian. She had taken Naruto in as a favour to his father, and now her part was over.

If Naruto said yes, then it would be all up to him.

"Should... should I leave too, sir?" asked Hinata.

"No, it's alright," smiled the commander. "That is, if you don't mind, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, no prob," waved the blonde. "Hinata-chan can stay!"

Hinata blushed slightly, which Kakashi took note of. Seemed like the boy had managed to inherit his father's ability to charm the pants off of members of the fairer sex. He really was just like him... though the gray-haired man would do well however to remember that no matter how much he seemed like it, Naruto was not the Golden Flash.

"Well then..." smiled Kakashi. "Your decision?"

Hinata held her breath.

Kakashi's eyes betrayed the conflict within him.

Naruto just grinned.

"There's something I'm gonna have to warn you about, though, boss."

"What is it?" asked Kakashi. Naruto and Hinata didn't notice, but he was holding his breath.

Naruto looked at him with strange, determined eyes, and Kakashi's breath caught in his throat. Flashbacks invaded his mind, and he could see another young man sitting in the same place that Naruto was right now. He had no doubt whatsoever about the warning that Naruto was going to put forth, and he knew that there was no way he couldn't agree to it now.

---

"Matron-san."

Tsunade looked back. Naruto had come out of the room... In fact, it seemed like his body and spirit had both been fully restored. Hinata and Kakashi too stood alongside him, though the girl seemed rather disturbed.

The blonde teenager quickly embraced her in a hug, and she returned it, patting his back as she did so. It seemed like negotiations had gone smoothly, though it was rather disheartening to see one of her own leave her. It had been that same way for all the previous ones that had left her nest, and would be for all the other children that lived in the orphanage now.

Though no matter how many times it happened, she would never get used to it.

Smiling softly, she once again wondered. Was the great Katsuyu no Tsunade going soft?

"Thanks for taking care of me all this time," grinned the blonde, though it was obvious that this was hard on him too. "Make sure the rest of the kids grow up into outstanding citizens just like me, eh? Oh, and Konohamaru's going to need people to remind him and Moegi and Udon as well to do their homework."

"I'll do that," said Tsunade. "Just make sure you try and come back to visit sometime. It'll be a bit less hectic without you here."

"Sure, as soon as I settle in and get the chance," said Naruto. "Oh, and could you tell them I'm just going to be going away? I don't really want them to worry about me."

"Naruto, they'll be worrying about you anyway. They're good children, and you're their role model. Don't think I don't know about all the times that you helped them with their problems and made sure that they ate and slept right... The rest of the orphanage will miss you as well."

"Right then. But still, matron-san...!"

"Alright, fine," said Tsunade, admitting her defeat. "I won't tell them, but then you have to come back every now and then to play with them, understood?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

"Don't call me that!"

Whack.

As Naruto held his bruised head, silence reigned over them for a while. Naruto thought of all the good times that he had in this place as he looked around. In retrospect he actually had it pretty good compared to many of the other orphans that were usually just dumped into the slums and sent to foster families who didn't care for them. Happiness was in the eye of the beholder after all, and now that he was going to leave he realized that he was going to miss this place.

"What about Tenten?" asked Tsunade.

"What about her?"

Smack.

"Idiot!" cried the matron. "What are you going to say to her!"

"Ow! What am I supposed to say!"

"How about 'sorry for worrying you' or maybe 'sayonara'! People like you make girls all around the world cry!"

"I'm bad with goodbyes, alright! And it's not like I'm going to be gone forever! Next chance I get I'll come back to this city to visit you, the kids, and her! Is that good enough for you!" cried Naruto as he held his hurt head. The matron really had some unnatural strength.

"She's still going to need some guarantee!"

"And what kind of guarantee am I supposed to give her!"

---

"Are... are you sure it's alright, sir?"

Kakashi looked at the blue-haired girl to his side. They had mostly tuned out the sound of the argument that was what had become of Naruto and Tsunade's conversation, and were now just looking around the place, slightly bored.

"About what?"

"Naruto-kun's condition," said Hinata. "I'm not too sure what he was trying to say..."

"Oh, that," laughed Kakashi. "To tell you the truth, I expected something like that."

"How?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"People like him are easily readable, and rarely differ from each other. They're all stupid, energetic, and ultimately willing to give their lives for people they care about," said Kakashi, then he paused slightly. "Another of their traits is that they tend to value the lives of people over the wishes of any man or woman. It seems like he noticed this trait of his himself."

"Then is that what...?"

"Yes, exactly. His motivation is different from our organization's," Kakashi's eye curved in a slightly smile. "Whereas KAGE and the Yggdrasil work to ensure the success of our country as well as our future, his goal is a lot simpler. He understands that, and puts his own goal above our's."

"He wants to save everybody," verified Hinata.

"That is correct."

Both of them thought to the exact words that he had used.

_"I'm not going to need your permission to go against your orders, sir," said a determined Naruto as he looked at them without fear in his eyes at all. "You guys are just gonna give me the guidelines, and this is just a message to tell ya that I'll be doing whatever the hell I want."_

"Very insolent," noted Kakashi. "But also rather charming in his own unexplainable way, eh?"

Hinata just blushed.

---

"Where are we going?" asked Naruto.

"To our base, the Yggdrasil," clarified Kakashi. "It's where you'll be spending the rest of your stay with us, at any rate. The Gear that you had been piloting is also there. Ah yes, that reminds me. We'll need you to come up with a name for it once we get there."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

Hinata decided to explain.

"It's traditional for pilots to name their own Gears," said the blue-haired girl. "Since basically only they can use them in battle. It allows you to connect more with your ride, and also makes talking about them a lot easier."

"Doesn't it already have a name, though?" asked Naruto. "I mean, it doesn't look like it had just been built or anything... Actually, it looked pretty old."

Hinata shook her head.

They were standing at the edge of the city now, waiting for their ride. The Yggdrasil was too large to land in the city without causing commotion, and a giant Messiah-classed battleship would not be a welcome sight after the Schwartz scare. The police force in the city was giving them a hard enough time already without having to cause anymore trouble, and Kakashi wanted out of this place quick now that their mission was complete.

Naruto had with him two bags of stuff, mostly clothing and some mementos of the orphanage. There had been several packets of expired ramen that he tried to sneak in that Kakashi had discarded, and only when he told him that the cafeteria in the battleship served fresh, good ramen had he subsisted.

"We've already checked the government database," explained Hinata. Kakashi didn't say anything. "The only information that we managed to find was its serial number. There was nothing else, not even its manufacturer nor the year it was built."

Naruto's curiousity was aroused.

"What's it's serial, then?"

"SPRL-009."

Both Naruto and Hinata looked at Kakashi. He had been the one to say it. Hinata was confused. The commander hadn't been in the room when she had looked it up, and she was sure that she hadn't told him about it as there had been no time.

"SPRL?" asked Naruto. "Does that stand for something?"

"Well, yes," answered Hinata. "Usually the letters indicate a series, though I've looked up other Gears with the same denomination. All I managed to find was SPRL-008, and information on it was classified. It seems like I don't have enough clearance to access it."

"Ah..." mumbled Naruto. "Okay. But is it gonna work okay? I mean, if you don't know anything about it won't it be kind of dangerous? Maybe it's faulty or something..."

Hinata shook her head.

"We've already applied all the standard checks to it and it's passed them all. There are several systems that our technicians can't understand, but they were disconnected, so the Gear can't access them. It's perfectly safe, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded.

"Oh yes, that reminds me," said Kakashi. "Our mechanics have restored your Gear the best they could, so it should move a lot better. As soon as you settle in we'll start you up on your combat training, as well as determine what kind of weapons we should outfit your Gear with."

The blonde grinned. It was going to be a tough couple of days but he'd get used to it.

"Ah, there's our ride right now," remarked Kakashi as he looked down the road.

Indeed, a small black van drove up to them soon enough. The doors opened, and two young men maybe a little older than Naruto stepped out of it. Kakashi gave them a curt nod, and the larger of the two began to move Naruto's luggage into the back of the black vehicle, giving him a hearty smile as he did so. Naruto countered with a grin.

"Naruto-kun, this is Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji," introduced Kakashi. "Shikamaru acts as our secondary commander as well as our tactician. Chouji here is a mechanic talented in the service of Gears, as well as one of the few people in the world who can pilot them. He's the one who did most of the work in restoring your Gear. Shikamaru and Chouji, this is Uzumaki Naruto. He'll be joining the crew as a pilot."

Chouji turned to Naruto as he made his way to the van with the luggage.

"So you're the pilot of that 'bot!" grinned the plump man. Naruto noticed a packet of chips sticking out of the pocket of his vest. "It's a strange one, very old and very powerful. I can tell you it's made of some very powerful armour, and it's NEO-S is top-notch. Where did you find that thing?"

"Heh, well. I just tripped over a stump and came across it, that's all," grinned Naruto.

"Then you've got to have some crazy luck," grinned Chouji. "I wouldn't mind you finding another guy like that one if you'd just give it to me!"

"What? You don't already have a Gear?"

"Naw, I've been on the Ygg forever and a day now, but I've only found out recently that I was a pilot. Always been my dream, you know. I failed the physical test when I tried to sign up though, so I decided that being a Gear mechanic might not be as good as a pilot but it'd be good enough for me. Not everybody can trip over a stump and come across a 'bot like you could."

There was no malice or jealousy in his voice and for that Naruto was glad. It hadn't occurred to him that there were other people who wanted to become pilots who didn't manage to come across it like he did, but Chouji's little speech had roused that idea within him.

"I thought all pilots had Gears already," said Naruto. "Is there anybody else without one?"

Chouji nodded.

"Didn't Hinata-chan tell you? She doesn't have one either."

---

"Troublesome..." muttered Shikamaru as he looked at the two.

"That reminds me, what are you doing here? This isn't your usual cup of tea," asked Kakashi.

"It's what the doctor ordered."

"Ino-kun, I suppose," smiled Kakashi. "She seems rather good at controlling you."

"I can't deal with pushy women," said Shikamaru. "Anyway, we'd better be going. We've processed your request, and headquarters agreed. We'll have about a week to lay the basics of piloting with the newbie and get him acquainted with the rest of the crew. After that we'll have to go back to finish off the rest of the Schwartz."

"Indeed," noted Kakashi. "The Gears that young Naruto took care of were only small fry after all. The pilots were definitely unskilled and their Gears were ill-equipped. I suppose you have them in custody right now?"

"We've already sent them back to HQ. The Ruby Custom sent a runner. They'll probably get interrogated, but for now we'll have to wait and let Morino-san work his magic. We've retrieved the Messiah-class battleship, the Seven Days, as well," said Shikamaru, scratching his head. "Also, headquarters got another Gear up and running, and since we've already requested a few it's determined that it'll be ours."

"Good news, indeed. It's always great to have another Gear."

Shikamaru sighed in annoyance.

"Now can we go?"

---

"Holy shit."

"Yeah, I was like that first time I saw it," grinned Chouji. "You'll love the place. Great food, great beds, and great stuff. Too bad there's only around thirty of us on that big boat though, we're a bit understaffed after all."

The Yggdrasil was incredible. Naruto hadn't had a good look at the other battleship that had passed over his head during the terrorist attack, and now he was getting the full-on view of a similar craft.

Strethcing over at least a kilometer, it was coloured mostly forest green and a dark, earthy brown. Vaguely triangle shaped, its point seemed to be where its head was. They were currently quite a bit away, though close enough for Naruto to see small openings on its bottom. It stood hovering gently, and Naruto found himself wondering how it managed to keep in the air without falling.

"Thirty!" yelled Naruto. "But that thing's huge!"

"Well, it's actually rather easy to manage," admitted Shikamaru. "Most of its functions are run automatically, and we just need a few bridge personnel to look over the ship and make sure everything's running fine. Otherwise there isn't really a lot to do."

"Whoa, but still... That's pretty amazing."

Hinata smiled.

"Maybe, but we've gotten used to it," said the blue-haired girl. "It's a bit too large though, so sometimes it feels a bit lonely. That's why it's a rather big deal when a new person joins the crew... You'll probably meet the rest of the crew soon, whether you want to or not."

"I can't wait!"

They quickly arrived under the Yggdrasil, and a large cylindral tube dropped from the bottom of the large craft. With a hiss part of it flipped open to reveal an elevator of sorts. The black van gently rolled onto it, and the moment it arrived the door close again and Naruto could feel them going upwards.

"This is just a small lift," said Chouji. "Used specifically for small vehicles. The ones that you can deploy out of in your Gear are a lot more impressive. I should know, since I'm the guy who gets to perform maintenance and check that they're working all the time."

"Whoa..."

---

_"So... this is your room, eh? Not bad, not bad... A bit bland though."_

_'Jeez, where have you been?'_

Naruto looked at the place. It was a small room indeed, but he probably wasn't going to spend a lot of time here anyway. There were other things to do, more important things.

A small bed stood in the corner. It was a lot more high-tech looking than what he was used to, but it seemed to function the same way as his old one, so he wouldn't worry about it. In another corner was a small desk with an imbedded computer. Naruto scratched the back of his head, he'd have to find somebody to teach him how to use that thing. That guy Shikamaru seemed pretty smart, though Chouji seemed a lot nicer...

Well, there was no point in worrying about that now. Might as well go and unpack his stuff. He turned towards the wall. Chouji had told him where the closet was, but...

_'He forgot to tell me how to open it.'_

_"God, can't be that hard. Just tap it or hit it or something. It's a closet for cripe's sake!"_

_'Fine!'_

He thumped it several times with his knuckles, and was actually rather surprised as the door swung open to the side and revealed a small closet along with a douple of hangers. He got to work quickly, humming as he put all of his clothing inside.

_'Where did you go anyway?'_

_"Where the hell can I go? I'm stuck in your head, remember?"_

_'I'm not that stupid, you bastard. I mean, why weren't you talking?'_

_"Well, it gets confusing. I've decided not to butt in on the conversations between you and other people now, otherwise it's gonna make you look like an idiot when you just stand there all spaced out."_

_'It can't be that bad!'_

_"Oh yeah? Observe. You're already done the closet thing and there's a voice outside the door calling for you for around a minute already," _grinned Kyuubi. Naruto couldn't actually see his face, but he was damned sure that if he could, then the bastard would be grinning from ear to ear. _"Have fun!"_

"Hello?" called the voice from the door.

"Coming!"

Naruto quickly made sure that everything looked alright and ran to the door. It opened up, sliding sideways, and Naruto was once again amazed slightly by the high-techness of all this new stuff around him. The orphanage had never been too big on technology, and donations were better used for other things.

However, once he took a look at who was on the other side his train of thought stopped.

The first thing he noticed about her was her hair. What kind of person had pink hair? After taking a few seconds to make sure it wasn't dyed, his eyes wandered downwards and hit her face. She had green eyes, and wore a modified red... dress shirt thing. He had seen Tenten wear one of those things before during a school dance... She had called it a... a cheongsam?

"Eyes up here please," teased the girl, and Naruto's face snapped upwards, flushing. "My name's Haruno Sakura, please to make your accquaintance. You're Uzumaki Naruto, right? Kakashi-taichou told us a bit about you and how you managed to take down four guys in your first run. Good job!"

She reached out a hand which Naruto shook, still blushing.

"Shikamaru-kun sent me down here to give you a small tour of our home base," said Sakura with a smile. "I think he's just too lazy to do it himself, though."

"Y-Yeah, he seems like the couch potato type," grinned Naruto, still blushing.

"Haha... The only people who seem able to get him to do anything at all around here are Kakashi-taichou and Ino-pig," at Naruto's curious expression she decided to clarify. "Yamanaka's the resident doctor around here. Piloting's actually pretty tough on the body since you have to link with the Gear. She's just here to make sure there aren't any negative side-effects."

"Oh... alright then. You were going to show me around this place?"

"Yep!" Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand. "And now we're off!"

As the pair made their way down the hallway, with the pink-haired girl actually dragging the blonde-haired blonde, neither of them noticed the presence that had been surveying all that had happened. The entity was faint, hidden within a darker part of the hallway where the lights had burnt out.

The hallway was cleared now, noted the figure. With uncanny grace, he stepped out of the shadows. Black hair adourned his head as well as handsome features that could send any girl swooning if they didn't know about his personality.

Uchiha Sasuke had beheld the coming of the new pilot, now to see if he performed as well as he should.

---

"Wow... What a place," mumbled Naruto as he looked around the hangar.

It looked just like that other hangar where he had found the orange Gear... Except maybe a bit newer looking. Five mechanics, including Chouji who gave Naruto and Sakura a wave as they came through, were wandering the area checking the Gears.

Three Gears stood in the hangars, including Naruto's own. The blonde's heart lifted at the sight of the mech, though it was rather hard to explain why. During that fight with the terrorists he had felt a bond with the giant robot. It was something that belonged only to him and seemed to reflect him.

The Gear had definitely been restored to the max. Another coating of orange paint had been applied over, and the parts that had been white had also been cleaned off. Maybe it was just his imagination, but the raised red stripes on its cheek seemed to be shining vibrantly, and it was giving off a decidedly badass aura. It seemed to be grinning at Naruto, and the blonde couldn't help but grin back.

He wouldn't just think of it as that orange Gear anymore. The more he looked at it the more he realized. It wasn't just any Gear now... It was HIS Gear, and he'd be damned if he let anybody else take it away from him. Make no mistake.

Sakura noticed his action, and smiled. The newbie seemed rather talented... He had already connected with the Gear at a deeper level than when they were just syncing. This was different... Something that differentiated the veterans and the greenhorn. To truly pilot a Gear to the max, you had to see it as something more than just a machine or a vehicle.

Indeed, you had to see it as a...

"Hey Sakura-chan," mumbled Naruto as he kept staring at the Gear. "Is it strange to think of my Gear as my partner?"

The pink-haired girl smiled.

"Not at all. I do that too."

"You... You're a pilot?"

"Yep. She might not be the strongest here, but she's mine."

Naruto looked around the room. There were only two other Gears here beside his. One of them was mostly black with blue patches here and there as well as white stripes and had a similar build to his own. He knew suddenly for sure that it wasn't her's, it just wasn't her style.

The other one however seemed to be built a bit more... femininely. Two tones of pink adourned it, and white stripes ran down its sides and parts of its armour. Two mechanics looked like they were inspecting it, writing down things on their clipboards every now and then.

"Is that the one?" asked Naruto as he pointed at the pink Gear.

"Yep," smiled Sakura. "Her name's Haruka. That's the kanji for 'spring' and the kanji for 'flower'. Pretty good name, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" grinned Naruto. "It suits it... uh... her."

Sakura smiled, "Don't worry too much about the pronouns. If the Gear looks feminine then just refer to it as female, that's what most pilots do anyway... There aren't many feminine Gears around though. Haruka's actually a test-type, though I had a choice between a production model or her."

"Oh? Then why did you take it?"

"I don't know... I just really didn't want her to get scrapped," smiled the pink-haired girl, and Naruto caught a wistful look in her eyes. "She was going to be turned into spare parts for another test-type. I actually had to beg the head of the project to let me keep her."

"Oh... Um, who's the pilot of that one over there?"

Sakura looked at the direction he was pointing at. The blue and black gear stared back at them, and Sakura could've sworn had she not known better that it was looking at Naruto's Gear with the same cold, calculating look that its owner usually assumed.

A mechanic accidentally hit a switch, and Naruto's Gear turned its head towards the black one. Sakura almost burst out laughing as the orange Gear seemed to counter the black one's glare with a glare of his own. Hopefully the meeting between their owners would get off to a more pleasant start, but Sakura was pretty sure after spending a few minutes in Naruto's company that neither would get off on the right foot.

Maybe they'd be mature enough to progress beyond that, though...

"That's Sasaki, our last Gear," smiled the pink-haired girl. "Uchiha Sasuke pilots it... He's considered a genius at piloting since he comes from a long line of Gear pilots and was trained at birth. His mission success rate so far is a hundred percent without fail, and comes back rarely with injuries of any kind."

"Wow... That's amazing!" said an awed Naruto. "Wonder if he'd give me some tips."

Sakura sighed. She hated to burst his bubble, but Sasuke gave nobody tips or tricks or advice of any kind.

"Oh yeah, what are you going to name your Gear?" asked Sakura.

Naruto paused. He hadn't thought of that yet.

"I dunno..."

"Oh well, nevermind that for now," smiled the pink-haired girl. "I don't think you're used to him just yet anyway. You'll think of a name when you get to it, so for now all you have to do is relax and wait for Kakashi-taichou to teach you how to pilot."

Naruto thought about that for a few seconds. He wasn't actually very surprised that Kakashi was a pilot, for some strange reason. He struck him as the type. Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound came from Naruto's stomach and he turned towards the girl, grinning and blushing at the same time.

"Umm... Looking at those guys makes me kind of hungry. Wanna break for lunch?"

Sakura only smiled and was about to walk out of the hangar door when another figure walked through it. It passed by her and soon was standing directly in front of Naruto, who only stared at him in curiousity. Sakura smacked her forehead... She didn't expected them to meet this early.

"So you're the new recruit..." said Uchiha Sasuke. "Not much to look at."

---

**A/N: Alright, this chapter wasn't the longest I've ever done but it's good for its purposes. For an AU story, I think this is actually doing pretty well. Next chapter Naruto and Sasuke duke it out in a simulator. So expect battle scenes galore as well as a training scene where Kakashi explains the basics of Gear piloting to the clueless blonde teen.**

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**Remember to hit that little blue button all the way down at the bottom... The one that says REVIEW!  
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	4. Notice

Dear Readers, 

Sorry it took so long to get to you, but I'm currently completely remaking Spiral Nine. It's one of my most original ideas, I've realized, and I don't want to give it up. Not yet. So, in the coming days, please wait for it. I'm currently brushing up on my writing skills as well as watching a couple episodes of various assorted mecha anime (Gurren Lagann, Evangelion, G Gundam) to get a feel for the genre again, and I think it's almost time.

When I'm done the first chapter, I'll post it.

When you see the name Spiral 09, know that this story has been reborn.

Sincerely,  
Random Writer 46

P.S. Looking for betareaders (although I'm not sure how the system works.)

P.P.S. Thanks for the encouragement, Capito Celcior. Reading your review really fired me up. I hope that you've got this story on your favourites, or your alert list, but if not then hopefully you can find this story again. Also, shouts out to all my reviewers, you were all great!


	5. Notice 2

The first chapter of Spyral 9 is out! The remake is here!

- Just a friendly reminder, Random Writer 46 -


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